Zagreb, Nov 23: Croatia's opposition nationalists claimed victory in today's parliamentary election, although the next government is likely to be a coalition since no single party is expected to win outright. "I can say that the HDZ is the winner of these elections," the leader of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, told national television.

Sanader claimed victory an hour before the first partial results were expected to be published at 9:30 pm (0200IST). Opinion polls before the election indicated it would be a close race between the HDZ and the incumbent center-left alliance, led by the Social Democrats (SDP) of Prime Minister Ivica Racan.

Bureau Report