The DIP published the official list of presidential candidates consisting of Djurdja Adlesic (nominated by the Social Liberal Party), Miroslav Blazevic (nominated by the Party of Croatian Veterans), Ljubo Cesic (independent candidate), Mladen Keser (independent candidate), Jadranka Kosor (Croatian Democratic Union), Doris Kosta (independent candidate), Anto Kovacevic (Croatian Christian Democratic Union), Slaven Letica (independent candidate), Stjepan Mesic (nominated by the Social Democrats, the People's Party, the Peasant Party, the Istrian Democratic Assembly, Libra, the Liberal Party, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar Alliance, and the Party of Democratic Action of Croatia), Boris Miksic (independent candidate), Ivic Pasalic (Croatian Bloc), Tomislav Petrak (Croatian Popular Party), and Miroslav Rajh (Croatian Youth Party).
The list with presidential candidates will be published in dailies and on Croatian Radio-Television.
Possible objections to irregularities in the process of submission of candidacies may be reported in the next 48 hours, after which the DIP will have 48 hours to decide on them.
The DIP also received nine candidacies which lacked the required 20,000 signatures of support.
All submitted candidacies were supported by more than half a million voters (505,787).
The presidential elections of January 2, 2005 will see four more candidates than in 2000, when nine candidates were running for president, and as many as ten more than in 1997, when there were only three candidates.
DIP president Ivica Crnic said he was of the opinion that the required number of signatures supporting a candidacy should be raised and cited Slovakia as an example, which he said had approximately the same number of inhabitants as Croatia and where the required number of signatures was 20,000.
Crnic also mentioned the possibility of introducing the obligation for candidates to pay a certain amount of money as guarantee, which would be returned to the candidate if he/she collects the sufficient number of signatures, or be used for humanitarian or government purposes if they fail to do so.
This, he said, would prevent some candidates from undermining the dignity of presidential elections with irresponsible conduct.
If only one round of elections is held, they will cost the government 50-60 million kuna, and in the case of a run-off, the amount will double, Crnic said.
(EUR1 = 7.5 kuna)