Croatia’s ruling conservatives win parliamentary elections, first results show

"Our victory is not only great but binding," he said of the government's task to "work with all our hearts for Croatia".

His party was on course to win 68 seats of the 151-member assembly, ahead of the 42 seats won by their main rivals, a Social Democrat-led coalition, according to official results with nearly 90 percent of the ballots counted.

Nationalist and eurosceptic bloc Domovinski Pokret (Homeland Movement), led by popular singer Miroslav Skoro, came third with 15 seats followed by the conservative Most (Bridge) party with eight seats and leftist Mozemo (We can) with six seats.

The HDZ will now seek partners to form yet another ruling coalition which analysts believe should not be too difficult given their strong performance.

"They have a pretty comfortable position now as they may be able to choose their partners and may not need to negotiate with their opponents on the right-wing spectrum of the political scene," political analyst Berto Salaj told state television.

Plenkovic said the victory brought with it an obligation to work hard.

"Croatia is facing serious challenges which require from us responsibility, knowledge and experience. That is exactly what we have offered to the Croatian voters," he said addressing his party supporters.

The new government will have an uphill task to keep a grip on the coronavirus while trying to restore the economy, which is expected to shrink about 10 percent this year. Tourism revenues are forecast to slump 70 percent.

Croatia has reported a relatively small number of Covid-19 infections – a little over 3,000 cases and some 100 deaths so far – but infections have accelerated in the past two weeks, with the daily number of new cases peaking at about 80. 

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)