The president of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Josip Friscic, said that the position of the HSS presidency was that the parliamentary elections should be held in November, the same as those held four years ago, adding that the HSS would run in the elections independently.
"When the possibility of early elections was discussed, we were against it and now we are against talks on postponement of elections. The HSS will attend the (governing) coalition meeting with a position that the 2011 election should be held in November," Friscic told reporters after the party presidency session.
He added that he had not yet discussed this with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.
Asked if it was possible for the election date to be announced by the end of this week, namely after the coalition meeting announced for Friday, the HSS president said this was possible in the event that the government and the President's Office reach an agreement about that.
The president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Radimir Cacic, told a news conference in Zadar that he was confident the coalition of left-wing parties would win the parliamentary elections, adding that a coalition agreement of parties gathered in the bloc led by Social Democratic Party (SDP) would be announced on Friday.
Asked about a possibility of post-election cooperation with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the HSS Friscic said this possibility was not discussed at today's talks.
Commenting on the death of Djuro Brodarac, Friscic said he was deeply stricken by the news of Brodarac's death because he knew him. Brodarac never calculated during the war because he lived in the area that was exposed to the aggression, Friscic said.
According to what I have read, there is no mention of him personally being accused of causing harm to anyone. To express myself in ICTY terminology, he was accused on command responsibility," Friscuc said.
General Djuro Brodarac died at the Clinical Hospital Centre in the eastern city of Osijek shortly after 8am on Wednesday,
Brodarac was hospitalised on Tuesday, but the exact cause of death was not immediately known. An investigating judge has ordered an autopsy.
Brodarac has been in investigative custody in Osijek for the past three weeks along with two other persons on the suspicion that they committed war crimes in the Sisak area in the early 1990s.
