(25 Nov 2007) SHOTLIST
++QUALITY AS INCOMING
1. Wide of exterior of polling station
2. Various of people voting
3. Close-up of hands of election commission member checking voter's ID
4. Various of people voting
5. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian ) Vox pop:
"No chance (for the changes). They only do that for themselves, not for us, little people."
6. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Vox pop:
"Yes, I expect changes. Changes for the better, at least for me."
7. Mid of two men voting
8. Leader of Social Democrats, Zoran Milanovic and his wife Sanja entering polling station
9. Pan from Milanovic's child to Milanovic and his wife
10. Mid of media
11. Mid of Milanovic voting and leaving
12. Milanovic and his family walking
13. Wide of journalists around Milanovic
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Zoran Milanovic, Leader of Social Democrats:
"A new course, a new turn in politics, a new face of the politics but not just polished, brushed up on the billboard but new contents. That is what it is all about. This country has been way too tired of corruption and other malformations so it is time to turn, a U turn. Thank you."
15. Mid of Milanovic and his family posing for photographs
STORYLINE
Zoran Milanovic, president of the main opposition party in Croatia, voted early on Sunday in closely contested parliamentary elections.
Leader of Social Democrats said that Croatia needs change, and that SDP hopes for the victory.
"A new course, a new turn in politics, a new face of the politics but not just polished, brushed up on the billboard but new contents. That is what it is all about. This country has been way too tired of corruption and other malformations so it is time to turn, a U turn," he told reporters.
Croatians were choosing between the ruling conservatives and leftist opposition for a government set to steer the ex-Yugoslav country into the European Union.
One of the voters in Zagreb (name not given) said she does not believe in any change.
"No chance. They only do that for themselves, not for us, little people," she said on Sunday.
About 4.48 (m)million voters, including 400,000 Croats living abroad, will choose up to 160 parliament deputies.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and were to close 12 hours later.
First official results were expected later in the evening.
All surveys showed that Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's Croatian Democratic Union was level with, or even trailing, the opposition centre-left Social Democrats, as Croatians blamed Sanader for failing to improve their standards of living or put corrupt officials behind bars.
Neither party, however, was expected to win outright, and the new government could be known only after post-election deal making.
Unlike in the past, Croatia's pro-Western course is not at stake this time, as the nation's membership of the EU and NATO tops both parties' agenda.
Both also want to keep good relations with the United States.
The once-strong nationalists are out of mainstream politics.
After a decade-long rule by the Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, then a nationalist party, Croatia turned to the West in 2000, when the Social Democrats took power.
In 2003, the HDZ returned to power, but Sanader purged its nationalists and boosted the market economy to continue Croatia's pro-Western makeover.
The country, which in 1991 fought an independence war, is currently negotiating EU membership and could become the bloc's 28th member in 2010.
Next year, NATO is expected to invite it to join.
Croatia will become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on January 1.
He vows to do more and pledges "zero tolerance" for corruption.
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