ZAGREB, Feb 8 (Hina) - I can owe my final victory of the election to messages I have given and which citizens have understood as those were their messages as well, said Stipe Mesic, the presidential candidate of the Croatian People's
Party (HNS) who was also supported by another three parties that make up the four party block. Mesic told reporters in his election headquarters on late Monday night that he was not surprised by early returns from the polls and forecast that final results of Croatia's presidential election would be similar with possible small modification in comparison to first indications about his victory. He said he would initiate constitutional changes of the powers of the President of the Republic through organising public and general discussion and would respect proposals of experts so that amendments to the Constitution could be adopted for many years. Mesic emphasised that he would r
ZAGREB, Feb 8 (Hina) - I can owe my final victory of the election to
messages I have given and which citizens have understood as those
were their messages as well, said Stipe Mesic, the presidential
candidate of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) who was also
supported by another three parties that make up the four party
block.
Mesic told reporters in his election headquarters on late Monday
night that he was not surprised by early returns from the polls and
forecast that final results of Croatia's presidential election
would be similar with possible small modification in comparison to
first indications about his victory.
He said he would initiate constitutional changes of the powers of
the President of the Republic through organising public and general
discussion and would respect proposals of experts so that
amendments to the Constitution could be adopted for many years.
Mesic emphasised that he would retain the powers which the Croatian
National Parliament would grant to him.
Stressing that the recently constituted Croatian Government does
not consist only of the coalition of the SDP-HSLS (Social Democrat
party/Croatian Social Liberal Party) but also of another four
parties that made up, along with the HSLS and the SDP, pre-election
'Opposition Six' with their joint political platform and
programme, Mesic asserted that there would be no problem in his
cooperation with the Government and the national Sabor.
Mesic believed this Government would meet all promises it had given
before the recent parliamentary and presidential elections.
Commenting on the course of the campaigning in the run-up to the
second round of the presidential ballot, Mesic said it was
necessary to regulate by law financing of electioneering in order
to prevent "cheap shots". In this context he reiterated that the
auditing of costs of his campaign had shown there were no
irregularities in the financial backing of his electioneering.
Mesic cited Croatia's bids to enter the European Union and NATO,
which requires the normalisation of relations with neighbouring
Bosnia-Herzegovina as a priority of Croatia's foreign policy.
Asked which countries he was planning to visit soon in capacity of
Croatian President Mesic replied that besides the neighbouring
states, he would like to tour the EU headquarters in Brussels. He
added he had launched his campaign with the European option for
Croatia.
(hina) ms