Zagreb - As Croatia's ruling party seeks a successor to the late President Franjo Tudjman, a rift between its moderate pro-Western faction and hardliners appears to be widening.
The government on Tuesday called a presidential election for January 24th to fill the void left by Dr Tudjman. But statements in the past few days indicate that Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is more deeply divided than ever. Separate parliamentary elections are set for January 3rd and no party has yet put forward a presidential candidate.