"Taking into account the quality of the incumbent government, it would be good for Croatia to have elections next year and not spend time which is a valuable resource, but this does not depend on Racan and the SDP but on whether (Prime Minister Ivo) Sanader and the HDZ have a sufficient number of MPs (in their favour) in the parliament," the leader of the strongest opposition party told a news conference in Zagreb on Saturday.
Commenting on the Ivo Sanader cabinet's performance this year, Racan pointed out as good moves the start of the membership talks with the European Union and a joint initiative which he said he and Sanader launched about the so-called Alliance for Europe. Racan added that this alliance was not conflict-free.
Speaking about what he deemed to have been bad moves, Racan said there were many ones but one of the worst was the recurrence of the HDZ methods from 1990s, and HDZ officials' inability to face criticism.
He also claimed that the HDZ and the current government were not working on the economic and democratic development of Croatia.
He added that the latest attacks levelled by the HDZ against the national broadcasting corporation HRT were acts which undermined achieved democratic standards.
Asked how he assessed the performance of the Opposition in 2005, Racan said he could not speak about the opposition in its entirety, but he was sorry to see that the SDP "is alone, and is the most outspoken as others are not at all".
He announced an SDP platform for the solution of key problems in the country in 2006.