CROATIAN PEASANT PARTY TO LEAD AFFIRMATIVE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

SLAVONSKI BROD, Oct 26 (Hina) - Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) president Zlatko Tomcic said on Saturday the HSS would lead an affirmative electoral campaign since it did not wish to participate in the atmosphere of intolerance and hatred increasingly present on the political scene ahead of parliamentary elections. #L# Presenting the party's platform for the fifth constituency in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod, Tomcic said some media contributed to the bipolarity of the political scene and the division into the left and right wings. Tomcic said some media had directly contributed to Croatia's extremely low ranking this year in the Reporters Without Borders annual report on media freedoms. He added this was not surprising given that some journalists and editors-in-chief had given their freedom to individual parties and ideologies. Tomcic went on to say that nobody should underestimate the HSS or act surprised if after the ballot, the party found itself in a much better position than until now. Speaking about the contribution of the HSS to what he described was positive headway made by the incumbent ruling coalition, Tomcic said 59,000 jobs were created in small and medium-size enterprise thanks to the HSS policy, land was sold, funding for farmers was four times higher, and it became evident that the privatisation model needed changing. Tomcic said the HSS had always been a responsible party. As for the HSS platform, he said it focused on the economy. The HSS maintains that the next government must concentrate on economic growth at high development rates, and remove obstacles in legislation, the black and grey economy, a corrupted bureaucracy, an ineffective rule of law, and excessive administration. (hina) ha