Croatia elects first woman president after tight vote
Zagreb: Opposition challenger Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was elected Croatia´s first female president on Sunday, narrowly winning a tight run-off vote with a pledge to kickstart the EU country´s...
January 12, 2015
The politically conservative Grabar-Kitarovic, an ex-foreign minister and former NATO official, won 50.4 percent of the vote, according to results based on more than 99 percent of the ballots cast.
Her rival, centre-left incumbent Ivo Josipovic, garnered 49.6 percent of the vote, results released by the electoral commission showed.
"Grabar-Kitarovic won in a democratic battle and I congratulate her," 57-year-old Josipovic told supporters at his Zagreb headquarters.
The 46-year-old candidate of the main opposition HDZ party will be the first woman to take the helm of the European Union´s newest member state.
She is also the first female head of state chosen by voters in the largely patriarchal Balkans region since Kosovo´s Atifete Jahjaga was elected by parliament in 2011.
Sunday´s election for the mainly ceremonial post was held as Croatia, which became the EU´s 28th member in July 2013, grapples with a deep economic crisis.
"I will not let anyone tell me that Croatia will not be prosperous and wealthy," Grabar-Kitarovic told jubilant supporters in the capital, calling for national unity to tackle the economic crisis. (AFP)
