Croatia’s New Government Faces ‘Unpopular’ Economic Choices
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Croatians elected a four-party opposition bloc that needs to trim the budget deficit and reduce corruption to bring the nation out of a recession and into the European Union in 2013.
The Social Democrats and three other parties that make up the Alliance for Change, or Kukuriku, won 80 of parliament’s 151 seats, the electoral commission reported with all votes counted. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union, which had governed for 17 of the last 21 years, took 47, with smaller parties winning the rest. Results are expected to be finalized on Dec. 7, after challenges to the count are heard. Social Democrat leader Zoran Milanovic, a 45-year-old lawyer and former diplomat, will be the next premier.