MESIC AND BUDISA TO CONTEST RUN-OFF BALLOT OF PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

ZAGREB, Jan 25 (Hina) - The President of Croatia will be elected at the second round of the voting, scheduled in the fourteen days, when Croatian citizens are to vote either for Stipe Mesic (the candidate of Croatian People's Party, HNS) or Drazen Budisa (the candidate of the coalition of the Croatian Social Liberal Party/Social Democratic Party, HSLS/SDP).#L# According to first incomplete unofficial preliminary results of the presidential ballot, held on January 24, Stipe Mesic mustered 41.64 percent of the vote, and the second top contestant is Drazen Budisa with 28.00 percent. As none of them gained necessary majority of votes (50 percent of all cast ballots), they will run in the second round of the election, slated for February 7. The data referred to returns from 6,805 polling stations out of a total of 7,038, which were published by the Croatian National Electoral Commission shortly after the midnight. Up to that time returns from 96,69 percent of the polling stations were processed and at them 2,611,181 voters (64.27 percent) cast their ballot, out of 4,062,723 eligible voters registered at those stations. Nine candidates contested the January 24 presidential election. After Stipe Mesic and Drazen Budisa, the third contestant according to the number of gained ballots is Mate Granic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) with 21.69 percent. Independent candidate Slaven Letica mustered 4.17 percent of the vote. He is followed by Anto Djapic, the candidate of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) and the Croatian Christian Democratic Union (HKDU) with the 1.78 percent. Another independent candidate Ante Ledic is the sixth with 0.85 percent. The candidate of Croatian Popular Party (HPS), Tomislav Mercep, won 0.85 percent. Ante Prkacin, the leader of the New Croatia (NH) party, mustered 0.28 percent, while the last was independent candidate Zvonimir Separovic with 0.25 percent. (hina) ms