Almost one-third of Croatians say their standard of living has slipped since last year when pro-European authorities took over from nationalists, according to an opinion poll published Tuesday.
According the poll published by the Vecernji List daily, 30.4 percent of 450 people surveyed said that their standard of living had deteriorated in the last 12 months while 56.9 percent said that it remained the same.
The poll showed that 54.7 percent of those questioned considered that the biggest failure of Croatia's new government, which won the January 3, 2000 elections pledging widespread reforms, was an increase in unemployment.
The jobless rate is currently at around 25 percent.
But almost half of those surveyed -- 47.1 percent -- said the biggest achievement of the government has been ending Croatia's international isolation suffered under the late ultra-nationalist leader Franjo Tudjman.
A separate opinion poll conducted by the Media Metar agency and published in the Jutarnji List daily showed 30 percent of the 1,200 people questioned did not know which party to support while 38.6 percent favored early elections.
The Social Democrats (SDP) remained the strongest single party, enjoying the support of 25.8 percent.
However, the SDP and its main coalition partner the Social Liberals (HSLS), were given ten percent less support than what they won in the January 3 2000 elections when they had almost 45 percent of the vote.
The former ruling nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) also appeared to have suffered a slide in support, according to the poll, earning just 8.4 percent support compared to more than 20 percent in last years' elections -- ZAGREB (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
