In response to some press reports on Wednesday, the acting president of the strongest opposition party told reporters in parliament that there had been no mention of opinion polls at that meeting in Zagreb.
Antunovic thus refuted as incorrect media reports that at the meeting of party senior officials in the SDP main offices the leader of the SDP branch for the City of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, proposed that the SDP candidate for the new Prime Minister should be selected according to the results of public opinion surveys and that a majority of the officials attending the meeting agreed with the proposal.
"Bandic was not at the meeting, he arrived at the main offices after the meeting and had an informal conversation with some party members while drinking coffee. No mention of any opinion polls was made at the meeting," Antunovic told reporters.
She said that there were some speculations, to the detriment of the SDP, that anything would be decided according to some surveys.
"The SDP is a strong party that brings its decisions on its own and cannot and must not accept anybody's dictate or wish about how the party should handle internal issues," she said.
The said meeting revolved around preparations for a session of the SDP Main Committee, scheduled for Saturday.
The Committee is also expected to set a date for an early election convention at which the party's leader is to be elected.
Antunovic has been the acting president since last week, when Ivica Racan resigned due to his deteriorated health.