THERE IS ONLY ONE HDZ BH - NEW PARTY PRESIDENT

( Editorial: --> 8662 ) VITEZ, June 3 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina (HDZ BH) will pursue the continuity of the central policy of the HDZ and its President Franjo Tudjman, the new HDZ BH president, elected mid-May, Ante Jelavic, said in Vitez Wednesday. It is a legitimate right to step out of any party, including the HDZ, and establish a new one, but those who do so do not have the right to bear the legitimacy of the HDZ, Jelavic said speaking about Kresimir Zubak's announcement that he would establish a new party on the original platform of the HDZ BH. Zubak is the Croat representative in Bosnia's collective Presidency. "The small group of those dissatisfied with the Fifth Convention of the HDZ BH in Mostar must be aware that there is only one HDZ," Jelavic said. He emphasised it was also a question of morality for every political official, appointed or elected to any duty on behalf of the party, to return the entrusted mandate upon leaving the party. The group of those who left the party includes people "who sold a part of the country for which young men spilled their blood", Jelavic said, adding it was them "who agreed to the police being under federal, and not cantonal competence". "They also accepted the Cyrillic script on traffic licences, contrary to the Bosnian Constitution. They were willing to accept a uniform education system, which could be disastrous for Croats in BH," Jelavic said. Those people are also willing to accept a common TV programme "instead of a national one, as demanded by the HDZ and the Croat population in BH." At a later press conference in Mostar, Jelavic said the HDZ BH had set up a special working group which will, in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the office of the international High Representative for BH, discuss the registration of the new party and the similarity in the names of the two parties. Jelavic also announced that a part of the HDZ BH infrastructure would soon move from Mostar to Sarajevo. Bosnia's Foreign Minister and member of the HDZ BH Presidency Jadranko Prlic today asserted that the new HDZ BH leadership elected at the Mostar mid-May convention enjoyed the absolute support of members throughout BH. (hina) ha/bag jn 032003 MET jun 98