Zagreb, 4 January 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Early election results show Croatia's main center-left opposition coalition headed for victory over the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), founded by the recently deceased President Franjo Tudjman, which has held power in the country since it split from Yugoslavia nearly a decade ago.
Croatian state television said that with 61 percent of yesterday's vote tallied, the nationalist HDZ was trailing in eight of 10 national electoral districts. The coalition has pledged to move the country out of its isolation toward western institutions, transfer some presidential powers to the legislature, crack down on corruption, and
improve the national economy.