BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3527 HINA ZAGREB, 8 FEBRUARY, 2000

HR-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3527 HINA ZAGREB, 8 FEBRUARY, 2000 STIPE MESIC WINS CRO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - PRELIMINARY RESULTS ZAGREB, Feb 8 (Hina) - Stipe Mesic is the new Croatian President, according to first preliminary results announced by the Croatian National Electoral Commission shortly after Monday midnight. Mesic, the candidate of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) who was also supported by another three parties (HSS, LS, IDS) that make up, along with the HNS, the four party block, defeated his rival Drazen Budisa, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party/Croatian Social Liberal Party (SDP/HSLS) coalition in Monday's presidential run-off ballot. In the second round of the election, Mesic mustered 56.21 percent of the vote and Budisa won 43.79 percent, according to early returns from 99.36 percent processed polls out of a total 7,036 polling stations, the Commission stated. According to those data, 1,430,907 Croatians voted for Mesic, who is to