CROATIA: Final rallies ahead of parliamentary elections

Croatians prepare for a tightly contested parliamentary election on November 25 with both main parties pledging to take the former Yugoslav republic into the European Union by the end of their four-year mandate Croatians are preparing for a tightly contested parliamentary election on Sunday (November 25) with both main parties pledging to take the former Yugoslav republic into the European Union by the end of their four-year mandate. Neither Prime Minister Ivo Sanaders of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) nor the resurgent Social Democrats (SDP) are likely to be able to form a government on its own and lengthy coalition talks are possible. Opinion polls give a slight edge to the SDP and its new leader, 41-year old Zoran Milanovic, who appeals to younger, urban voters, and favours a more active state role and redistribution of wealth. "We are carrying on because the HDZ is the strongest political force of the Croatian people", HDZ leader, Ivo Sanader, told his party's final election rally in the capital Zagreb. Ordinary Croats want less corruption and a better living standards, although most want to keep broad social benefits. "Unless there is change and the government is changed, this is a disaster, with so much corruption", said a pensioner in Zagreb who identified himself as Marko. After the independence war and economic hardship of the 1990s, Croatian cities shine with new gloss and its pristine Adriatic coast has become a hotspot for global celebrities. But an urban consumer boom, largely based on bank loans, has its flip side in the countryside, where there is growing poverty, a lack of investment and an aging population. Neither party has put forward a detailed economic strategy, or plans to tackle a big trade deficit or foreign debt. Instead they have offered vague promises of higher economic growth, prosperity and zero tolerance for corruption -- all appealing to Croats, who earn on average 660 euros a month and complain of widespread graft in politics, courts and hospitals. But anlysts say the EU accession talks would firmly set the new governments agenda. "The straitjacket of EU accession, on top of new, tougher conditions on financial markets, means that irrespective of what the new government believes in the beginning, they will not have as much room for manoeuvre", said financial analyst Goran Saravanja.

ITN Source | November 24, 2007

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