HNS SAYS WILL PULL OFF A VICTORY FOR LEFT COALITION

ZAGREB, Nov 3 (Hina) - Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Vesna Pusic said on Monday her party would help the left coalition win forthcoming parliamentary elections. #L# "My impression is that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has not started the campaign yet. If nothing else, the HNS will pull off a victory for this coalition, because with its good results, particularly in constituencies no. 1, 3, 6 and 8, the HNS can secure a victory for the left coalition," Pusic told Hina on Monday. The HNS leader was in Zagreb's central square handing out cups of coffee and rolls to citizens. She said she did not know why the SDP had abandoned the plan to form a symbolic electoral coalition with the HNS in one constituency. Pusic was approached by old people who asked her if the government would pay back its debt to retired people if she came to power, to which she said: "We will give you back one portion, but no government could give you back all of it, because too much was stolen during the first ten years of the existence of the Croatian state," alluding to the decade of rule of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). During the election rally, the HNS received an SMS message from the HDZ, which invited the recipients to join "the victorious team of (HDZ leader) Ivo Sanader". After reading the message, which said that the HDZ could not tolerate impotence, faint-heartedness and pessimism being spread round the country, Pusic said that it was the HDZ that was spreading pessimism among voters and that it should offer more in its election campaign than "Ivo Sanader and the dark posters", which she said were only discouraging people from going to the polls. "The HDZ has nothing else to show but those dark posters. Opposite the nationalist right stands the option of a modern, European Croatia offering a completely different concept of development of the country," Pusic said. (hina) vm