SOCIAL LIBERAL-DEMOCRATIC CENTRE COALITION HOLDS RALLY IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Oct 27 (Hina) - After next month's elections, the coalition of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the Democratic Centre (DC) will negotiate with current opposition parties so that Croatia could finally get a decisive and efficient government, HSLS leader Drazen Budisa said in Zagreb on Monday. #L# "Croatia needs to become self-confident and independent and not be subject to international pressure and political manipulation," Budisa said at the Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall after presenting the coalition's candidates for the Nov. 23 ballot. "The promises (the HSLS) made on 3 January (2000, the last parliamentary election) didn't come true, which is why we joined forces with the DC for a better Croatia, so that we can do what we promised," said Budisa, who heads the HSLS-DC slate in the tenth constituency. The first on the slate in the first constituency, DC president Mate Granic, voiced confidence the HSLS-DC coalition would win about 20 seats in parliament although it aimed for 25. Like Budisa, Granic said he was certain the election would be won by centre and centre-right parties, and added he believed the HSLS-DC option, which he labelled "the most natural coalition on Croatia's political scene," would form a "more expert, more determined and more homogeneous government" with today's opposition. DC vice president Josko Moric, who heads the HSLS-DC slate in the sixth constituency, called on Croatians to vote for centre parties and Croatia's stability. "It's time for a new power and a better Croatia in which the prime minister will not employ his first wife in (the) European integration (ministry), the second at the Constitutional Court, and the current wife in foreign affairs. He will no longer marry at the state's expense," he said. (hina) ha sb