"The campaign started long ago and as we can see it is dirty. But it won't be dirty on our part. That is our message to our political rivals, not enemies: if they want an enemy, they should seek it elsewhere, because they won't have an enemy in us, but they will have a tough opponent and rival who plans to win this game and win it according to the rules, not in extra time or from an offside position," Milanovic said at the start of a meeting of the SDP main board.

He said that there was a big difference between a negative and a dirty campaign, adding that a negative campaign exposed the rival's faults, but according to rules, whereas in a dirty campaign there were no rules.

"They can say what they want. They can use personal accusations, they can accuse the SDP of dirty deals and secret bank accounts, but I believe that most people can see the truth," Milanovic said. He added that the SDP had nothing to hide and that it had always worked transparently and in compliance with the law. "We are aware that we are doing good things. We are aware that we can make mistakes, people who work make mistakes, but we have good intentions, and a lot of knowledge."

Milanovic said that the four-party opposition coalition led by the SDP was not a coalition based on ideology but on similar views, with standards raised high and without populism.

Milanovic said he was pleased with reactions from the public to the presentation of the coalition's election platform, called Plan 21. He said that during the campaign they would emphasise that responsibility for Croatia's success in the European Union lay with Croatia itself.

The SDP main board met to discuss the coalition's election platform.