BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4521

HINA Zagreb, February 3, 2001PARTY LEADERS SAY BUDISA'S ELECTION AS HSLS PRESIDENT EXPECTEDZAGREB, Feb 3 (Hina) - Most Croatian political leaders said they had expected Drazen Budisa to be re-elected president of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and estimated that it would not lead to any major changes in the ruling coalition. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Main Committee, Zdravko Tomac, expects the HSLS will move towards consolidation and that a rift will not occur. "The HSLS is indispensable, it has played an important role in the recent Croatian history, both during the Homeland War and in the past two years as part of the coalition government," Tomac said. He believes Budisa's election as HSLS president will not lead to "disruption" in the ruling coalition. The coalition now faces talks which will have to "eliminate some failures and determine rules of conduct for all coalition partners," Tomac said