On Thursday, Sanader said he did not want to believe that the allegations were part of the election campaign, "that someone from other parties had a hand in this". He added, however, that he wanted the other parties to take a position, saying that otherwise "the public will get the impression or at least wonder why they do not distance themselves from the allegations."
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) chief, Zoran Milanovic, said that the Prime Minister "should not be creating an atmosphere of a state of emergency or raising an alarm".
Milanovic told Hina on the phone on Thursday afternoon that Croatia was once again dealing with the past, "this time with the past of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ruling party."
Earlier in the day, Sanader said: "We are talking about ridiculous false accusations," adding that "Croatia is not and will not be a quagmire".
"The quagmire Sanader refers to is the quagmire of the HDZ from the 1990s and other gentlemen from the HDZ were in that quagmire. Neither the SDP nor I have anything to do with it," the head of the strongest opposition party said, adding that "it can only be the responsibility of the current government if Croatia has found itself in a situation to be threatened by a fugitive from justice".
Commenting on the request by the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) that parliament should discuss reasons why and under which conditions presidential advisor Sasa Perkovic had met with the fugitive, retired general Vladimir Zagorec, in Vienna, Milanovic said the Chief State Prosecutor, Mladen Bajic, had stated that Perkovic had met Zagorec with the knowledge of the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH).
"According to information available to us and according to what the Chief State Prosecutor has said, Perkovic was there (in Vienna) with the consent of the DORH and in the interest of justice and his trip to Vienna was justifiable. Nothing what we have heard implies that he (Perkovic) interfered in the investigation or that he acted on his own," Milanovic added.
Vlado Jukic of the HSP, however, still insists that relevant institutions should take a stance on the entire case.
Jukic told reporters in parliament today that the HSP "is to some extent surprised by the Prime Minister's call, in light of the fact that the premier participates in defining the activities of the intelligence services".
He also said that the HSP had not been involved in the publication of documents on the alleged secret accounts and that "allegations could stop, if relevant institution were doing their job".
Jozo Rados of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) said that his party had not been involved in the publication of the controversial documents.
"The HNS neither collects nor has at its disposal such information. As regards the Prime Minister's proposal that we apriori stand by him is out of the question," Rados said, adding that there were several reasons for turning down his invitation, such as the fact that "Sanader is the most powerful man in a country in which corruption is rampant".
The Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader, Josip Friscic, said his party had imputed nothing to anybody and that the HSS would like to learn what the President's aide was doing in Vienna.
As regards the alleged document about Sanader's secret account, "today such things can be easily checked," the HSS chief added.