The honorary president of the HSLS, Budisa said that Croatia needed plans to get the country out of the crisis and not plans for attracting votes, adding that the HSLS was ready for a policy of right and unpopular moves.

Speaking of the work of the two leading parties, the strongest opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Budisa criticised the SDP for "social demagogy" and described the HDZ's running of the state as "nothing but a struggle for their own personal gain, using all means available."

When asked to comment on the 21-point platform of the SDP-led coalition, HSLS president Darinko Kosor said that the SDP's platform was "a nice programme, almost verging on a fairy tale, but unfeasible."

"Croatian citizens have had enough of being lied to before elections, only to see another policy being conducted after elections. That programme is unfeasible, because it doesn't provide for cuts in public spending. And even school children know that there will be no recovery of the national economy without cuts," Kosor said.

"We expect all those who at the last two elections voted for the HDZ to vote for the HSLS this time around. We're not counting on leftist votes, but are expecting votes from decent people who used to vote for the HDZ. We have a man who gave everything for Croatia and never took a penny in return," Kosor said.

Constituency No. 9 covers the counties of Lika-Senj, Zadar and Sibenik-Knin, and a northern part of Split-Dalmatia County.