HDZ'S SEKS DECIDES NOT TO RUN AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) vice president Vladimir Seks on Wednesday decided he would not run as HDZ's candidate for the January 24 presidential elections. Addressing 1,000 HDZ members at today's Head Committee session, Seks as one of HDZ's top officials took responsibility for his party's debacle at the January 3 parliamentary elections. During the session, HDZ official Andrija Hebrang requested a break to gather signatures for his candidature, but the Head Committee declined to comply with his request. Claiming the HDZ Presidency members were responsible for the electoral failure, Hebrang stated attempts were now being made to shift responsibility onto others. Asserting that the Presidency's members had "secured a good livelihood" for themselves by entering parliament's House of Representatives, he urged them to cede their seats to those not responsible for the electoral failure. Zvonimir Separovic so far has not put up his candidature for presidential elections. Today's HDZ Head Committee session has only one item on the agenda, namely the election of the party's candidate for president, and it is chaired by Head Committee Council deputy chairman Nedjeljko Mihanovic. Voting on the presidential candidate will be secret, and could be conducted in two rounds. To certify the nomination, the candidate must receive the vote of more than half of those attending the session. (hina) ha