He said that after yesterday's ousting of Branimir Glavas and another two members of parliament from the HDZ, the parliamentary majority led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had come into question. This will particularly be accentuated in the autumn when the state budget for 2006 will have to be adopted, Djapic said, adding that he believed that early parliamentary elections were certain.
Asked by reporters to comment on the rift in the ruling HDZ, Djapic said that the latest developments were detrimental both to Glavas and the HDZ, which "lost a charismatic person".
"The HSP has its own strategy, and we are conducting the pre-election campaign as we have planned, as if nothing happened. However, with regard to the expected division of votes from HDZ supporters in Slavonia, it can easily happen that our slate for the assembly of Osijek-Baranja County will win the highest number of votes. This would be the first victory of the HSP in a Croatian county," Djapic said.
He added that his party would run in the 15 May local elections on its own in all Croatian counties, in about hundred cities and in over 80 percent of municipalities.
"We have 500 lists with more than 6,000 candidates and we expect that we shall play a crucial role in the establishment of the new local authorities or that we will be the strongest opposition," Djapic said.