SERB PARTIES AND ORGANISATIONS DISCUSS ELECTION BILL IN OSIJEK

OSIJEK, Sept 28 (Hina) - Representatives of Croatian Serb parties and organisations are dissatisfied with the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) election bill which is in parliamentary procedure, because they believe that regulations referring to minority representatives denied the Serbs in Croatia their political rights. At a press conference held in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek, representatives of the Serb National Party, National Council of Serbs, Party of Danubian Serbs, Serb Democratic Party of Baranja, and the Serb National Council spoke about the election bill. The Serbs don't want to negotiate their rights, they want the right to 13 MPs in accordance with the Constitution, said Milan Djukic, the president of the Serb National Party (SNS) and the National Council of Serbs (NVS). According to Djukic, the bill does not serve democratic relations, civil tolerance, and trust. The president of the Party of Danubian Serbs and NVS vice- president, Rade Leskovac, said all Serb parties should reach a consensus before the elections and "participate in the elections with a joint strategy". It would be very good, he continued, for members of the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS), who "have distanced themselves a bit from other Serb parties", to agree to an open dialogue and cooperation. Simo Stupar of the Serb Democratic Party of Baranja also requested an urgent change in the number of Serb MPs in the election bill. Serb National Council president Veselin Pejnovic said that "Serbs who see Croatia as their homeland must not allow, as is being done these days, negotiations with the HDZ, SDP (Social Democratic Party) and Liberals". Pejnovic described this as "the last blow to the dignity of Croatian Serbs". More Serbs in the Parliament does not mean Serb nationalism but a step further toward "democratisation, that is, the exercise of the same rights by all citizens". (hina) jn rml