LIBERAL PARTY MPS LEAVE JOINT HNS/LS BENCH AND SET UP THEIR OWN

ZAGREB, Oct 19 (Hina) - According to a decision of the Liberal Party (LS) leadership, LS on Friday set up its separate bench in the parliament, and thus left the joint bench of this party and the Croatian People's Party (HNS), LS President Zlatko Kramaric said. Two independent MPs, Tibor Santo and Borislav Graljuk, who previously were in the bench of national minorities, have joined LS representatives: Mario Livaja and Zlatko Kramaric, and thus those four members can set up the LS bench. Kramaric and Livaja have so far with HNS deputies - Vesna Pusic and Darko Santic - constituted the HNS/LS bench. According to Kramaric, his party is negotiating with a few other MPs about their transfer in the LS bench. He added that the LS presidency had informed the HNS leader, Vesna Pusic, about this move. After Kramaric and Livaja's departure from the joint bench, HNS, which has only two MPs, has no right to its own bench as it need have at least three members for its separate bench. I hope that the establishment of our own bench will not deteriorate the relations between our two parties, Kramaric said. (hina) ms