Picula, who is a member of the SDP team, said the negotiations had progressed and the two opposition parties were close to reaching an agreement, which he added should guarantee victory or excellent results in all local constituencies.
Asked if there were areas on which the SDP and HSS teams could not agree, Picula answered in the negative, but added there remained many questions, for example if the coalition agreement with the HSS ruled out the signing of similar agreements with third parties given that in some constituencies the SDP-HSS coalition would not be enough to beat the Croatian Democratic Union.
Picula said an increasing number of SDP Main Committee members advocated talks with third parties, particularly the Croatian People's Party (HNS). He added the main condition for an agreement with third parties was that the parties stopped being political competitors and became political partners.
Asked what the SDP thought of the HNS offer to jointly run in the local polls, Picula said the SDP had not received an official initiative for the start of negotiations but remained open for political talks.