Croatia's PM announces victory of ruling HDZ party

The ruling conservatives overwhelmingly won Croatia's parliamentary elections amid a spike in new coronavirus cases, with smaller right-wing parties picking up seats, Report says, citing RIA Novosti.

More than 90 percent of the vote counted on Sunday night, the governing Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, had won 69 seats in Croatia's 151-seat parliament and is likely to form a new coalition government smaller right-wing groups.

Andrej Plenkovic, the acting prime minister and HDZ leader, praised what he described as a "great result and a great victory."

"Such a result for the HDZ, which is our victory, is not only great but also an obligation," Plenkovic said. "It is an obligation because we had a tough mandate full of challenges behind us, and challenges ahead of us are even bigger."

An alliance led by the liberal Social Democratic Party, or SDP, the main opposition party, came in second with 42mseats.