PULA: IDF COMMENTS ON WHY IT LOST ELECTIONS

PULA, Nov 25 (Hina) - Representatives of the Istrian Democratic Forum (IDF) told a news conference in Pula on Tuesday that the party failed to pass the election threshold because of a strong polarisation between right and left-wing parties. Party officials said the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the polls because the Social Democratic Party (SDP) had formed a coalition with the Istrian Democratic Assembly, the IDF's main rival. #L# IDF president Luciano Delbianco said the polarisation between the left and the right in the parliamentary election was too strong for the IDF. He said that the parties of the former ruling coalition could have achieved better results only by forming coalitions with other parties as well, including non-parliamentary ones. "The coalition with the IDS is Racan's biggest failure because by forming a strategic partnership in only one constituency, the SDP lost the elections in all other constituencies. The SDP-IDS coalition thus ruined the chances of the January 2000 coalition in the latest elections," an independent candidate on the IDF slate, Nenad Klapcic, said. He blamed the SDP-IDS coalition for allowing the HDZ to return to power. (hina) it sb