Corruption and economy to the fore as Croats vote

By Zoran Radosavljevic

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croats vote on Sunday in a tightly contested national election, expecting whoever wins to tackle corruption, overhaul the economy and take their country into the European Union.

The main rivals, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democrats (SDP), have both pledged to do all of those.

Nuance rather than difference separates them, mostly on economic policy -- the SDP is more state-oriented.

Neither party is likely to be able to form a government on its own and long coalition talks are possible.

The HDZ has ruled Croatia for most of its 16-year existence as an independent state. It was the SDP that launched real reforms in 2000, ridding it of the previous decade's image of war and nationalism and setting the country on course towards EU and NATO membership.

Sanader's reformed HDZ returned to power in 2003 and continued along the same path to win Western trust, achieving healthy economic growth and an ever-better investment profile.

However, his government has been tainted by corruption scandals and critics say the growth figures have not translated into higher living standards.

Opinion polls give a slight edge to the SDP and its new leader, 41-year old Zoran Milanovic. A lawyer by education and a recreational boxer, he has appealed to young, urban voters with his straight-talking tactics, such as admitting that he had tried marijuana.