Suspended uneasily between war and peace, Croats voted today in an election that is likely to inject new elements into the conflict within the former Yugoslavia.

President Franjo Tudjman of the Democratic Union, who has led Croatia since independence, is seeking a five-year term, and the first returns showed him with a strong lead.

He has defended his country's acceptance of a peacekeeping plan that puts a quarter of Croatia with large Serbian populations under the control of United Nations forces. Most other parties have questioned the United Nations role. Rumors of War

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