DRAGAN COVIC TO RUN AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF BOSNIAN HDZ

( Editorial: --> 0895 ) MOSTAR, May 1 (Hina) - The Herzegovina-Neretva Canton branch of the Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) of Bosnia-Herzegovina has elected the president of the HDZ Mostar City Committee, Dragan Covic, to run as candidate for the president of the HDZ of Bosnia- Herzegovina. New leadership of the Bosnia-Herzegovina HDZ will be in office for four years and five deputy presidents will be elected at the suggestion of the new president of the party. At the party's electoral assembly in Mostar on Friday, HDZ deputy president, Jadranko Prlic, said that the party's priorities were the return of displaced Croats and Croat refugees and economic development, which is the basic precondition for the stay of Bosnian Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Prlic stressed the HDZ advocated a multi-ethnic Bosnia- Herzegovina, but that it must be a truly multi-ethnic state, in which the number of Croats would not decrease. The HDZ of Bosnia-Herzegovina advocates a gradual demilitarisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and a democratic control of the army, as well as the transformation of the current Bosnia-Herzegovina Television into a public television, Prlic said. He suggested Croats to more actively approach the solving of all problems in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "The greatest danger for the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina is not to be a factor," he added. (hina) lm 011524 MET may 98