HSP CHIEF SAYS HIS PARTY READY FOR ELECTION

OSIJEK, Oct 11 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Anto Djapic, has said the party is absolutely ready for the coming parliamentary elections and is likely to pass the election threshold in all constituencies, with even more than one HSP deputy being elected in the fourth, sixth and ninth electoral unit. #L# Djapic, who held a news conference in Osijek on Saturday, said his optimism was based on the fact that the HSP had been transformed into a strong and serious political party. He expressed belief that if the current opposition won the parliamentary ballot, it could not form a new government without participation of HSP members. "In case we become a part of the parliamentary majority after the election, we shall insist on the proclamation of the exclusive economic zone (in the Adriatic), and if we remain in the opposition we shall ask for a referendum on the issue," the head of this right- wing party said. Djapic went to say that the HSP would not form a coalition with any party which did not unequivocally distance itself from indictments issued by the Hague-based UN tribunal which allege that Croatia planned ethnic cleansing and persecution of Serbs or that it was an aggressor in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Commenting on the tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte's report to the UN Security Council, Djapic asserted that the extradition of fugitive general Ante Gotovina or the proclamation of the economic zone "has no connection" with the manner in which individual EU member-states were treating Croatia and its bids to enter the Union. He accused the incumbent authorities of "pushing the country into the position of western Balkans and that's why it is necessary to change (authorities) so that the European Union can be told that we do not want to create any new association," Djapic concluded. (hina) ms