PARTY LEADER: SANADER EXERTS NO PRESSURE ON HDZ BIH

SARAJEVO, May 5 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Barisa Colak, has dismissed any possibility for the party leadership to be changed before local elections, set for this October, and thus refuted allegations that Ivo Sanader, the leader of the HDZ party in Croatia, is trying to remove Dragan Covic, the Croat member of the incumbent Bosnian collective presidency, from the leadership of the HDZ BiH.#L# After a recent initiative which some members of the HDZ BiH main committee, led by Stefo Masatovic, launched in order to change the current leadership of party, particularly Colak and Covic, the Bosnian media speculated that the initiative was a result of Sanader's efforts 'to put the party in order' in the same way as he previously had done in the HDZ in Croatia. Covic seems to be the target of criticism because of his involvement in many white-collar scandals and because of many charges pressed against him so far. Refuting allegations that Sanader exerted pressure on the HDZ BiH, Colak said in an interview with the local Dnevni Avaz daily that there was no grain of truth in such claims and that the HDZ in Croatia and the HDZ BiH "are two parties in two countries and I cannot see how Sanader can achieve anything like this". Colak said in the interview which the daily published on its front page of its issue on Wednesday that the HDZ BiH "has very, very good relations" with Sanader. Colak described the current situation in the HDZ BiH as typical for every party ahead of elections. "It is far from having no problems, but it is also far from labelling the situation in the party as dramatic," Colak said. (Hina) ms