TOMCIC SAYS EARLY ELECTIONS ARE POSSIBLE IF COALITION SHOULD FAIL

ZAGREB, Feb 17 (Hina) - The President of the Croatian parliament and the Croatian Peasants' Party, Zlatko Tomcic, said Monday he was prepared to initiate the issue of early elections if coalition partners showed through talks in the next two weeks that they could not function together. #L# The sale of the Suncani Hvar company was not the determining factor. This case was only a tip of the iceberg of all problems, primarily in the process of privatisation, Tomcic told Croatian Radio. He said that his request was that it be established whether the coalition could or not make its way out of the numerous problems, some of which have found their way into the public. "If not, we shall try to determine the shortest deadline for elections," he said, reiterating that he did not wish to speculate on the date of elections until he saw the answers of coalition partners. He said the option of a model of an electoral law which would prefer large parties was bad for the Social Democratic Party and the Croatian Democratic Union. Tomcic is confident that parliament will discuss the Suncani Hvar case. He said he had today received from the Croatian Social Liberal Party an official request that parliament discuss the issue, and had asked the government for a detailed report as a foundation for the debate. The parliament head said the Iraqi crisis could be discussed at the 30th parliamentary session. (hina) lml sb