IDS REPRESENTATIVE COMMENTS ON ELECTION RESULTS

RIJEKA, Nov 25 (Hina) - The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) vice president, Damir Kajin has said that the outgoing authorities may have deserved the message they were given on Sunday' elections but, he added ironically, Croatia "has not deserved to be ruled by the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union)". #L# The new authorities will not be able to stay in power longer than one year, and somebody will have to set again Croatia in motion as on 3 January 2000, Kajin told a news conference on Tuesday. Kajin' IDS in coalition with Social Democrats (SDP) won the election in constituency no. 8 with 42.72% of votes, and the HDZ was behind it with 18.56%. Kajin was on the top of the SDP-IDS slate in that electoral unit covering Istria and a part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Kajin believes that the return of the HDZ to power could be disastrous for Croatia, as the HDZ is, he said a nationalist party, and its possible coalition partner in the government, the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) an extremely right party. According to him, the eastern part of Croatia voted for the HDZ, and more developed areas for left parties, which signalises that the country "should radically be decentralised", or it would be further divided. Commenting on the results of the ballot in Constituency No 8, in which the SDP-IDS list won, Kajin said it was the expression in favour of a moderate Croatia and the respect for human dignity of everybody, and he voiced hope that the government in Zagreb would be able to recognise this. The second candidate on the SDP-IDS list, Social Democrat Gordana Sobol, said her party was satisfied with the number of votes it won on the state level. She does not think that it will be an easy task for the election's winners to form a new government, the main task of which will be to maintain stability and continue with developing processes. (hina) ms