With preliminary results indicating a win for the right in Sunday's Croatian elections, papers in Zagreb see a familiar pattern, and predict an uphill task for the future government.

There is also recognition of the achievements of outgoing Prime Minister Ivica Racan's centre-left social-democratic coalition.

It's the economy ...

"For the first time, Croatia voted like other countries in transition in these elections," the state-owned Vjesnik comments.

The transition reforms did not reflect positively and quickly enough on people's wallets Vjesnik

Drawing parallels with its near neighbours also undergoing political, economic and social reforms, "no party or coalition in a process of ongoing transitional reform has managed to win two mandates," the paper notes.

"Even in the most successful transition countries like the Czech Republic or Hungary, governments have changed just like on an assembly line."

Vjesnik sees two reasons why Mr Racan's social democrats were ousted.

"The first is the customary dissatisfaction with painful reforms, and the second is to do with unfulfilled promises made before the last elections and considerable voter expectations," the paper says.

"Racan fared badly in the elections because the transition reforms did not reflect positively and quickly enough on people's wallets," it concludes.

Right turn

The headline in the popular tabloid Vecernji List is "Right-wing bloc in the lead", and the privately-owned Jutarnji List agrees that "Croatia has taken a turn to the right".

Mr Racan's government made great strides in democratising society, and in bringing Croatia closer to the EU Vjesnik

Vecernji List also interviews outgoing Prime Minister Ivica Racan, who predicts that a right-wing government will find itself having to steer a "tricky" course between avoiding blunders in its relations with the EU, while at the same time meeting the expectations of the electorate.

The Rijeka-based independent daily Novi List agrees.

"Croatia faces great challenges," is the headline in a commentary which says potential coalition partners have done worse than expected, so the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) may have to look to the Croatian Peasant Party, which used to be in Ivica Racan's government, as a partner.

Another problem, Novi List says, is that the HDZ has no experience of forming coalitions, and one of its election campaign promises was not to give ministerial posts to coalition partners.

Vjesnik gives due recognition to the outgoing government of Mr Racan.

"It is beyond doubt that his government made great strides in democratising society, and in bringing Croatia closer to the EU very quickly," the paper says.

Novi List warns the electorate that they have only themselves to blame if the times ahead turn out to be tough.

"Things will not be easy for a government which was in opposition until yesterday and which promised so much, although it knew that it would not be able to waver too far from the course steered over the past four years by the outgoing coalition," the paper predicts.

"Nor will it be easy for the electorate whose votes have taken responsibility for what awaits them."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.