"My motto is 'People Before Politics'," she told the press at the end of a campaign to collect signatures for her candidacy. She announced she would reveal the exact number of signatures tomorrow, after submitting them and her candidacy to the State Election Commission.
Kosor said she would officially launch her campaign in Pakrac and Lipik, the towns she was born and raised in, on December 16.
She voiced confidence she would receive the votes of all HDZ supporters and the numerous associations she has been cooperating with for years.
Ratko Macek, who leads Kosor's campaign, said he was optimistic and that if Kosor did not win the first election round she would certainly win the second. He estimated that more than 30 percent of voters not supporting the HDZ would vote for Kosor.
Kosor said she was doing her job without paying heed to opinion polls and was basing her optimism on the citizens' signatures she collected for her candidacy. "The direct contact with people is important, as is what we have done so far," she said, adding she would not ask for measuring the time presidential candidates would be given in the electronic media.
Kosor said she would give most of the 500,000 kuna she would receive if she won more than 10 percent of the vote to children injured by mines.
(EUR1 = 7.5 kuna)