Croatia's political parties faced tough negotiations Monday to cobble together a government after the conservative opposition won a narrow election victory, heightening uncertainty in a country battling the migration crisis and recession.

The tight result means it could take weeks of horse-trading to cobble together a new government following the country's first election since joining the European Union.

Croatia's rival political blocs were on track to take an equal share of seats in parliament, an exit poll showed Sunday, after a general election overshadowed by the migrant crisis and a sluggish economy.

If the exit poll is correct, intense negotiations are likely to ensue over the formation of the next government, which will be under pressure to push through much-needed reforms and oversee the transit of tens of thousands of migrants through the small EU country.

Croatians vote in a general election Sunday as the nation faces an ongoing influx of refugees -- a crisis that rival political camps have tried to exploit, while lacking concrete policy pledges to kickstart the sluggish economy.

After four years of a center-left coalition government and six years of recession, the right-wing opposition is bidding to return to power in the country's first general elections since joining the European Union in 2013.

A new Croatian center set up to improve the journey of refugees and migrants opened its doors on Tuesday, receiving about 1,000 arrivals by train on a cold and foggy morning.

The center was set up over the past two weeks by the Croatian army in a former warehouse on the outskirts of Slavonski Brod, an eastern town by the Bosnian border, and can take in about 5,000 people.

The Croatian sun has given way to rain and the temperature has dropped, but refugees and migrants continue to stream into the country, forcing officials and charities to scramble to prepare for wintry conditions.

More than 90,000 migrants, many of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East, have transited through Croatia since mid-September after EU member Hungary closed its border with Serbia, forcing them to find a new route.

Croatia on Saturday announced an unprecedented spike in the arrival of migrants on a long, dangerous journey towards western Europe as the continent's worst post-World War II refugee crisis showed no sign of abating.

With many of the people fleeing war and misery flocking towards Germany, a new poll showed Chancellor Angela Merkel's popularity at home has been hit by her policy of openness.

Hungary's hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that Budapest eventually plans to seal its border with Croatia to stop the influx of tens of thousands of migrants bound for northern Europe.

"The influx of migrants is not going to abate... We want to stop people crossing," Orban told reporters in Vienna after a meeting aimed at smoothing over differences with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.

Croatia and Serbia traded ugly barbs Thursday and slammed tit-for-tat border restrictions on each other as Hungary started building yet another razor-wire barrier to keep refugees out, this time with neighboring Slovenia.

The face-off between Zagreb and Belgrade, the worst since they fought a war in the 1990s, came as thousands of migrants continued to stream through the Balkans towards northern Europe, particularly to Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the EU was a long way from tackling the worst migration crisis it has ever faced.

Like tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen fleeing war, members of a Syrian rock group exiled in Lebanon undertook a perilous journey to reach Europe.

But their trek, which has already taken them through five countries, has led to an unexpected 'exile concert tour', on the way to their hoped-for final destination of Germany.

Thousands of migrants sought their way through a chaotic maze of rumor and proliferating border controls in the western Balkans on Saturday.

In the latest chapter in the EU's escalating refugee crisis, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia tussled over how to cope with a wave of refugees desperate to reach northern Europe.