SANADER ANNOUNCES PREPARATIONS FOR COMING TO POWER

ZAGREB, April 8 (Hina) - The upcoming seventh convention of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) will prove the party's strength rather than rifts in it, and once the new party leadership is elected, the HDZ will start serious preparations for winning the next parliamentary elections, said the HDZ president and presidential candidate in party elections, Ivo Sanader. #L# Apart from incidents at party electoral conventions in Split and Slavonski Brod, the election process at 3,000 municipal, town and county conventions proceeded in a democratic atmosphere, Sanader said. The HDZ is more democratic than the Social Democratic Party (SDP) or the Croatian People's Party (HNS), who hold their conventions behind closed doors, he said. The party has won back the reputation it had in the 1990s, Sanader said, claiming that the deep crisis in the party, which followed the death of President Franjo Tudjman and the defeat at parliamentary and presidential elections, was over. Sanader claims that the ruling coalition will not be able to carry out its entire mandate and that his party is becoming a serious rival. The HDZ today is the strongest opposition party, democratic and consolidated, he said, adding that this was proven at the 2001 local elections, when the party won 34 percent of the vote. (hina) rml