RACAN: SDP WILL KEEP UP ITS HIGH RATING IN ELECTIONS

ZAGREB, April 5 (Hina) - The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ivica Racan, said after a session of the party's main committee on Saturday he was confident the SDP would keep up its high rating in the next parliamentary elections despite the results of a research by the International Republican Institute showing that the SDP's rating has sunk to 13%. #L# Speaking after the closed part of the session, Racan said the party membership was not pessimistic and there was enough competitiveness and optimism in the party, which would be proven in coming weeks. He reiterated that the next parliamentary election would be held in mid-autumn and added that there was enough time until then to address the SDP's results. "However, the SDP will not start an election campaign yet because the elections are six months away," he said, adding the party had to step up its activities. SDP members trust the party's policy in the government and the SDP wants to continue cooperating with its coalition partners regardless of disputes, Racan said. The SDP is ready for the "responsibility of a second mandate" and believes that Croatia still "needs the social-democratic option and responsible government". "We can lose the elections but we can't lose our face. Croatia comes before the SDP, and the Croatia we want is a country of satisfied people," Racan said, adding the SDP wanted a good future for workers as well. Commenting on newspaper headlines about dissatisfaction among the party membership, Racan said there were some individuals who had left the party, but the SDP was winning much more new members. Asked about the resignation of SDP member Zlatko Seselj to his post as MP, Racan said he could understand Seselj's decision but did not approve of it, and Seselj could continue contributing to the party's work. Racan was also asked to comment on a statement by the Croatian Judges' Association's president Vladimir Gredelj, who said the government had violated the Constitution, the constitutional law on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the law on criminal proceedings by delivering on its own an indictment by the ICTY against General Janko Bobetko to his attorneys, which was within the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities. Racan said the government acted as a "postman" in the case and that The Hague (tribunal) was ready to wrap up the Bobetko case but "somebody does not want that to happen". Asked to comment on a senior party official Zdravko Tomac's statement at today's convention of the Democratic Centre party that "Mate Granic would be a good premier", Racan laughed. "That is not the only thing I and Tomac have disagreed about, and Tomac obviously has been slowly drifting away from us," Racan said. (hina) rml sb