Milan Bandic, one of the candidates, was later asked by the press to comment on the Croatian People's Party's (HNS) possible refusal to form a coalition with the SDP if he is elected party leader.
The Zagreb mayor answered that the two parties had been in coalitions in the capital as well as on the state level, and that he believed they would be in a coalition in the future as well.
Bandic said HNS leaders Vesna Pusic and Radimir Cacic were not his problem, but he theirs. He added that the SDP seriously counted on all partners from the former coalition government on the state level, including those because of which the SDP lost the 2003 elections, without saying whom he was referring to.
Asked about the SDP's request for the dismissal of Interior Minister Ivica Kirin, another SDP presidential candidate, Zeljka Antunovic, said that was a case of suspicion of abuse of state institutions in order to obstruct political adversaries. She added that this referred to Kirin's statement about the monitoring of servers from which videos ridiculing him were posted on YouTube and his conclusion that the SDP was behind that.
Kirin and the Interior Ministry yesterday denied claims that the police had launched an investigation to track down the authors of the videos.
The third SDP candidate for party president, Zoran Milanovic, said that Kirin's resignation should be the first step and that elements of a crime should be officially reported.
The fourth candidate, Tonino Picula, said that Kirin was a problem of the Croatian public and not of the SDP, and that his case was the "continuation of stumbling in the HDZ-led government".
Bandic declined to comment on Kirin's statement, citing his principle to avoid commenting on political rivals.