at Sunday's early local elections in Pozega, stating that his party had expected a victory but not such a convincing one.
Commenting on the election results, with the SDP winning 44.86 percent of the vote and the Croatian Democratic Union 29.21 percent (other parties did not cross the election threshold), Racan told reporters that this was the result of the good performance of the Pozega party branch, which he said had been successful despite the HDZ's attempts to hamper the work of the local coalition.
"The elections in Pozega are a good test as regards the orientation which we must insist on - to gather competent people from within and outside the party," Racan said adding that as many as six non-party members were among the SDP's 13 councillors in the Pozega Town Council.
Racan regards as interesting the fact that only two parties passed the election threshold, but said that one should not draw any conclusions from this regarding other parties' prospects in the upcoming local elections.
The SDP leader said he was satisfied with the course of negotiations with the Peasant Party (HSS) and the Croatian People's Party (HNS) about joint participation in the elections. He added he was optimistic, but that one should not hasten the talks.