Conservatives achieve victory in Croatia’s general elections

Croatia’s conservative Democratic Union party, or HDZ, achieved victory in Sunday’s general election but fell short of a majority, according to final official results released on Monday morning.

The HDZ, led by Andrej Plenkovic, won 61 of the 151 Parliamentary seats, while its centerleft opposition rivals, the Social Democrats, led by former prime minister Zoran Milanovic, had 54 seats.

In third place came the Most party with 13 seats, followed by the anarchist Zivi Zid party which won eight seats.

Plenkovic, a lawyer, diplomat and active member of the European Parliament, promised earlier a stable future for the Croatian government with its priorities being political stability, the rule of law, economic development and social justice.