HDZ conservative party claims victory in Croatia vote
Croatia’s conservative opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has claimed victory in the country’s parliamentary elections.
“We won the parliamentary elections... The victory brought us responsibility to lead our country, which is in a difficult situation. Whoever wants to fight with us for the quality of life in Croatia is welcome,” the leader of the HDZ, Tomislav Karamarko, told cheering supporters on Monday.
Preliminary results released on Monday showed that the HDZ had taken about 60 seats in the 151-seat parliament in the Sunday elections, with the ruling centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) falling behind with 55 seats.
“I believe that we will have a new prime minister-designate soon,” said Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who also hails from the HDZ.
The figures, based on 70 percent of Croatia’s 6,500 polling stations, also indicated that a new party called “Most” (Croatian for “Bridge”) was running third with a projected 19 seats.
The conservatives are now expected to enter talks to form a coalition. Most’s leader Bozo Petrov has, however, said his party would not enter a coalition.
The new government will be under pressure to push through much-needed reforms in Croatia, which is gripped by six years of economic downturn and is struggling with a wave of migrants.
Croatia is among the poorest-performing economies of the 28-member European Union (EU), with its public debt standing at nearly 90 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The rate of unemployment averaged 16.2 percent in September, and was at 43.1 percent among youths.
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