Croatia elects first woman president after tight vote

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 ailing economy. The politically conservative Grabar-Kitarovic, an ex-foreign minister and former NATO official, won 50.4 per cent of the vote, according to results based on more than 99 per cent of the ballots cast. 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. Her rival, centre-left incumbent Ivo Josipovic, garnered 49.6 per cent of the vote, results released by the electoral commission showed.

I will not let anyone tell me that Croatia will not be prosperous and wealthy.

Incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

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. Grabar-Kitarovic is Croatia’s fourth president since its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Although presidential powers are limited in Croatia, Sunday’s vote was seen as a key test ahead of parliamentary elections later this year in which Grabar-Kitarovic’s HDZ is likely to make significant gains. The government of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has become increasingly unpopular as Croatia struggles to emerge from a six-year recession.