POLITICIANS DIFFER IN ESTIMATING RULING COALITION'S PROSPECTS

ZADAR, June 14 (Hina) - The survival and stability of the ruling five-party coalition primarily depend on relations between the Social Democrats (SDP) and the Social Liberals (HSLS), the president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) said on Thursday, stressing it would be better for Croatia if the coalition government made it to the end of its mandate. If, however, conflicts within the coalition obstruct the functioning of the state, it will be better to call early elections, Vesna Pusic of the HNS said in the central Adriatic town of Zadar. Mate Granic of the opposition's Democratic Centre (DC) expects an early election on account of the deep conflicts in the ruling coalition. "If these conflicts are not prevented within a month, we'll have to call early parliamentary elections, most probably later this or early next year," Granic said in Zadar. He is one of several political parties' leaders staying in Zadar where local elections will be repeated on June 17. Granic said the lack of trust within the ruling coalition ranks had reached a point where it would prove difficult to restore it. Djurdja Adlesic of the HSLS said the party would retain the centre position with transparent national and social stances. The HSLS favours early elections the least, she said in Zadar, not because it is afraid of them but because it objects to a reshuffled political scene and because people are tired of frequent elections. The HSLS wants the incumbent government and coalition to survive until the end of the four-year mandate, which is a guarantee for the realisation of the electoral programme, said Adlesic. Speaking of the repeated local election in Zadar, she said they must not jeopardise relations within the ruling coalition on the state level. Adlesic refuted allegations about a rift within the HSLS, saying the public should not be encumbered with such rumours. (hina) ha sb