Yugoslavs May Hold Open Election Next May, Politician Says

Yugoslavia may allow independent political groups to compete with the ruling Communist Party in a parliamentary election next May, a senior politician said Wednesday.

Andjelko Runjic, president of the Parliament in Croatia, Yugoslavia’s second-biggest republic, said the party would open up the political system despite resistance from conservatives in its own ranks.

“Even in the next elections we do not exclude the possibility of having as candidates not only members of the party but members of other initiatives springing up in Croatia,” Runjic said in an interview.

“There are dogmatic forces which resist changes. There are conservative forces in the party which want to retain power at all costs. But fortunately they are marginal and the prevailing opinion is more prudent,” he said.

At least a dozen non-Communist movements with hundreds of members have arisen since last year in Croatia and neighboring Slovenia. The authorities have tolerated them but so far ruled out a multi-party system for Yugoslavia.