Croatians vote as centre-left set to sweep to power

(ZAGREB) - Croatians voted on Sunday for a new government that should lead them into the European Union in 2013, in elections expected to see a centre-left coalition oust the corruption-plagued conservatives.

Surveys show the four-party opposition Kukuriku coalition, led by the Social Democrats (SDP), is poised to win an outright majority in the 151-seat assembly.

"We expect victory," Zoran Milanovic, SDP leader and likely new prime minister, told reporters after casting his ballot in Zagreb.

"I hope the citizens will have confidence in us. The central issue in these elections, as we have been saying all the time, is confidence," the 45-year-old former diplomat said.

If elected Milanovic will face the difficult task of guiding the Balkan country's economy out of a crisis amid Europe's financial uncertainties.

Croatia, independent since 1991, has been in recession for most of the past three years and unemployment stands at over 17 percent. The central bank says economic growth has only been 0.5 percent this year.

"I want change. What we had until now should go," Nedjeljka Pantic, a 73-year-old pensioner, told AFP after voting in downtown Zagreb.

"Crime is the most devastating disaster in Croatia," she said, reflecting the feeling of many Croatians following a string of corruption scandals involving the ruling conservative HDZ party.

A 49-year-old lawyer said he voted for the centre-left coalition although it was not his "natural choice."

"We have to get rid of the corrupted and incompetent HDZ rule. I'm voting 'against' rather than 'for'," Nenad, who would only give his first name, told AFP before heading for coffee with friends on an unusually warm and sunny election day.

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, also from the centre-left, on Sunday voiced believe that the "new government will decisively undertake everything to resolve the economic crisis."

During the campaign, Milanovic refrained from making any grand election promises, as surveys show Croatians' confidence in politicians is extremely low.

Instead he warned Croatians they were facing rather difficult times.

"We are not sure what awaits us. Sweat definitely-- but I believe without blood and tears -- and a lot of uncertainty," he said.

However, he pledged to lead the country in a "more honest and efficient way".

The remarks were a thinly veiled swipe at the HDZ which has been in power almost continuously since independence with the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

HDZ leader and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor stepped up an anti-graft fight, a key demand for Croatia's EU bid, only to see it boomerang back to hurt her own party.

"I believe that Croatians will choose those who will continue to lead an unsparing fight against corruption," Kosor told journalists on Sunday after voting.

Her powerful HDZ predecessor Ivo Sanader is currently on trial for corruption while the party is being investigated over alleged use of slush funds.

One HDZ supporter, Jakov Vlasic in his 20s, said he voted for the party, keeping up a family tradition, but stressed: "I would like them to change things, to lead the country in a better way."

More than 4.5 million Croatians are eligible to vote. By 1000 GMT turnout was at 16.39 percent, some two percent lower than around the same time in the previous 2007 elections, the electoral commission said.

Polling stations will close at 1800 GMT and first partial official results are expected around 2000 GMT.