SDP AGREES WITH OSCE ASSESSMENT OF CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ZAGREB, June 17 (Hina) - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leaders on Tuesday agreed with an OSCE assessment of Sunday's presidential elections that they were free but not fair and that they failed to meet minimum democratic standards. "These have been the least democratic elections since 1990," SDP presidential candidate Zdravko Tomac told a news conference in Zagreb. "Tudjman and the HDZ decided for undemocratic elections to retain power, disregarding the fact that they continue to undermine Croatia's reputation," Tomac said. If the elections had been democratic, there would have been a second round of voting and the winner would have been uncertain, he added. Tomac stressed that "the whole state apparatus, public companies and government-controlled media served for the promotion of Tudjman's candidacy," adding that he would demand a parliamentary inquiry into how much money the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party had spent on the campaign. "The HDZ spent on a banquet and fireworks as much as we did on our entire campaign," he said. Tomac reiterated his satisfaction with 22 per cent of the vote he had won, saying that it indicated that the democratic alternative he supports was gaining strength. SDP president Ivica Racan expressed regrets that the other opposition candidate, Vlado Gotovac of the Social Liberal Party (HSLS), failed to win more votes because that would have enabled a second round of voting. Racan did not agree with Gotovac's assessment that the HDZ and the SDP had achieved better results than him thanks to a disciplined electorate. "That's not true because that would mean that the SDP has half a million members," Racan said, stressing that it was obviously a sign of growing support for the SDP although almost the entire opposition was gathered around Gotovac. The SDP leaders said that they would make tougher demands that citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Croatian citizenship should not be entitled to vote in Croatia because the Bosnian Croats were a constituent nation of the neighbouring country and not guest workers there. They described as undemocratic the government's refusal to approve multi-party election monitoring commissions, proposing that in the future citizens should sign their names on voter lists so as to avoid possible manipulation. (hina) vm 171702 MET jun 97