Radimir Cacic was re-elected president of the ruling coalition's Croatian People's Party (HNS) at the party's 11th election convention in Zagreb on Saturday, while Vesna Pusic and Ivan Vrdoljak were elected vice presidents.
Cacic was the only candidate for the post, receiving the votes of 507 of the 536 delegates in attendance.
Cacic said the 2013 local elections would be crucial for the party, as its survival would be based on that. "If we don't have a base and raise the number of councillors to 800 and local leaders to 35, we can consider that a poor result."
Cacic said he would be more at the party's disposal "in the strong autumn campaign," adding that major projects, such as schools and power supply, that impacted every municipality, city and county, could help the HNS win more votes.
Before today's vote, Cacic said nobody in the HNS should try to seek an alibi in the fact that the HNS was a junior partner in the ruling coalition, although "others will claim credit and we will be the culprits for the failures."
Cacic said that in order to deliver, the HNS must have programmes and people who stood behind them. "That's why we want our experts at key positions - honest, diligent and qualified."
The party also adopted its programme for the 2012-16 period.
