Croatia: Conservative HDZ party celebrates victory in general election

Supporters of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party celebrated in Zagreb in the early hours of Monday morning after winning the most seats in Sunday's general election. According to partial results posted at midnight, the HDZ party took 61 seats out of a possible 151, eight more than the ruling Social Democrats who managed just 53 seats. The conservative opposition party gained an electoral boast ahead of the election for their tough stance on the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis gripping the European Union. More than 330,000 refugees and migrants have passed through Croatia since mid-September, with daily rates reaching as high as 10,000. The narrow victory means the HDZ party will now have to enter talks with smaller political parties in the hope of forming a coalition. One surprise result in the election was for the Most (Bridge) party, who took third place with 19 seats. Formed just three years ago, the Most party is made up of an alliance of independent candidates seeking a better business climate in Croatia and reforms of the judiciary and public administration. Despite being a prime coalition candidate, Most leader Bozo Petrov said ahead of the election that his party would not enter a coalition with either of the major parties. Sunday's election was Croatia's first since joining the EU in 2013.