RULING COALITION HARMONISES STANDS ON ELECTIONS FOR LOCAL SELF- GOVERNMENT

ZAGREB, Feb 2 (Hina) - The leaders of Croatia's ruling six-party coalition will suggest to their parliamentary benches that changes to the Electoral Law for Units of Local Self-Government do not envisage a direct election of municipal heads and mayors, parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic said after a meeting of the coalition leaders on Friday. Instead of a combined election system, the changes would suggest the introduction of an exclusive system of proportionate representation. Tomcic said today's meeting also tackled the future of the House of Counties (upper house). In the next several days, all legal possibilities for resolving the issue of the functioning of the House of Representatives once the House of Counties has been dissolved will be presented, he said. Three months after the adoption of constitutional changes, the coalition is faced with a new constitutional gap. What has not been resolved is the problem of operation of the House of Representatives upon the dissolution of the House of Counties on May 15, at the end of the mandate. Elections for the upper house should be held in June, when local elections are to take place as well. The coalition leaders admit it was a mistake not to have solved this problem with last year's changes to the Constitution. Some political parties believe the upper house should be dissolved, "because it costs much and is of little use," however, the coalition has still not reached a consensus on this matter. (hina) sb rml