 Tuđmdan dominated the elections with 61.4% of the vote but Tomac defeated Vlado Gotovac, a candidate for the main opposition party, the Croatian Social Liberal Party who finished 3rd.After the presidential elections, it was clear that the Social Democratic Party became the main opposition party and at that time, they started planning a coalition with the Croatian Social Liberal Party for the upcoming parliamentary elections.In 1998, the president of the Social-Liberal party Dražen Budiša and Ivica Račan signed an agreement in which they committed themselves to enter a coalition.