"July 15 marks the beginning of a new HSLS, one we conceived at a party convention seven months ago, an HSLS that will not be clientelistic and provide sinecures for individuals, but will focus on politics and on establishing itself as a strong Liberal party," Kosor said.

Kosor explained that the HSLS governing council had decided on the party's withdrawal from the ruling coalition at its meeting on July 10, noting that the decision was signed by Djurdja Adlesic.

Kosor was asked by reporters whether the fact that the HSLS was left without a seat in Parliament for the first time in 20 years meant the end of the party.

"Why would it be the end of the HSLS?" he asked, adding that he believed that the political position of the HSLS would improve, rather than weaken, following the resignation of a dozen officials from party membership in the past few days.

Kosor said that with only two seats in Parliament the party could not have considerably influenced the decisions of the majority and that their influence would have been even smaller had they stayed in Parliament as the opposition.

When asked if the HSLS would run in the next parliamentary election on its own, Kosor said, "Absolutely!" adding that the HSLS was not in negotiations with a coalition of four opposition parties.

Kosor called on the government to stop the police repression against protesters in Zagreb's Varsavska Street, saying that it was a peaceful protest prompted by the illegal occupation of public property.