ZAGREB: Croatians voted on Sunday to decide who will lead them in the final stretch on the road to EU membership, in a tight race pitting Prime Minister Ivo Sanader’s conservatives against resurgent leftists.

“We will get a government that will have to fulfil many tasks because we are standing on the threshold of the European Union,” said President Stipe Mesic after casting his ballot in Zagreb.

In the fifth legislative polls since independence in 1991, voters were asked to choose between the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the rival Social Democratic Party (SDP), and their potential coalition partners.

But regardless of the outcome, Croatians are united in their strong belief that the former Yugoslav republic will soon become the 28th member of the EU.

The Adriatic country opened membership talks with the EU in 2005 and is hoping to join by the end of the decade. It also expects an invitation from NATO in April 2008.

“I don’t hate the Balkans. We are a part of (the region), but joining the EU will guarantee us stability, notably for our kids,” said Marijan Gasparovic, 72, a former guest worker in the West, who voted for HDZ.

“It doesn’t matter who leads us to Europe, but it is necessary for them to fulfil that goal. The quicker it’s done, the better it will be for our country,” said Tomislav Maric, a faithful SDP supporter.

—AFP