Opposition wins Croatia election: exit polls
(Reuters) - Voters ousted Croatia's ruling conservatives on Sunday, according to exit polls, handing the centre-left opposition a strong mandate to overhaul the flagging economy before the ex-Yugoslav republic joins the European Union in 2013.
The opposition bloc, known as Kukuriku ('cock-a-doodle-doo'), won 83 seats in the Adriatic country's 151-seat parliament, based on the results of two exit polls. The ruling HDZ was second with 40.
The HDZ has ruled for 16 of Croatia's 20 years as an independent state, but was roundly punished by voters for a string of corruption scandals and rising unemployment.
The Kukuriku bloc, led by 45-year-old former diplomat Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democrats (SDS), will have to act fast to trim state spending and avert a potential credit rating downgrade.
Milanovic has told Croats they will have to work "more, harder, longer" to turn the economy around before the country of 4.3 million people becomes the second ex-Yugoslav republic to join the EU in July 2013.
"I have a decent pension but I look around me and I see poverty everywhere," 74-year-old pensioner Milan Grgurek said after voting in the capital, Zagreb. "Whoever comes to power ... will have to carry out reforms."
Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in a 1991-95 war, and has seen its economy boom over the past decade on the back of foreign borrowing and waves of tourism to its stunning Adriatic coastline.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/04/us-croatia-election-idUSTRE7B20SX20111204