The outgoing Croatian foreign minister, Mate Granic, has resigned from the leadership of the Croatian Democratic Union, the HDZ, and said he will now stand as an independent candidate in the presidential election on January the twenty-fourth.

Mr Granic said that internal party squabbles had seriously damaged his campaign -- and that if he was elected he would resign from the HDZ altogether.

Opinion polls indicate that Mr Granic is now trailing the opposition candidates, Drazen Budisa and Stipe Mesic. Mr Granic was the favourite before the opposition victory over the HDZ in this month's parliamentary elections.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service