Croatian ruling party wins polls, prepares for talks

Croatia’s long-dominant ruling HDZ party prepared on Thursday for difficult talks to form a coalition after winning Wednesday’s parliamentary election without a majority, and with a far-right party as potential kingmakers.
The conservative pro-EU HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) won 61 seats in the European Union member state’s 151-seat parliament, the latest preliminary results showed, after 99.79% of polling stations had been counted.
A coalition led by the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) came in second with 42 seats, a poorer result than expected after President Zoran Milanovic said he would run for the SDP as prime minister in a surprise move.
The HDZ took credit for Croatia entering the EU’s Schengen free travel area and the Eurozone last year and denied opposition allegations of authoritarianism and graft after dominating politics since Socialist Yugoslavia broke up in 1991.
The far-right Homeland Movement took the third place with 14 seats, giving it a decisive role since the HDZ has ruled out working with the main opposition SDP. Homeland has yet to come out with a clear choice which bloc it will join.