Zagreb: Croatians cast ballots yesterday to elect a president in a tight run-off between incumbent centre-left Ivo Josipovic and conservative Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, both pledging to help kickstart the newest EU member’s ailing economy.
The two emerged practically neck and neck from the first round of polling two weeks ago, with Josipovic, a 57-year-old former law professor and classical music composer, just one percentage point ahead of Grabar-Kitarovic with 38.5 percent of the vote.
The popular incumbent, the third president of the former Yugoslav republic since independence in 1991, is a member of the Social Democrats (SDP), the main force in the ruling coalition.
His rival from the main opposition HDZ party, a former foreign minister and Nato assistant secretary general, aims to become the country’s first woman president. Turnout was 21.92 percent at 1030 GMT, four and a half hours after polling stations across the Balkan nation opened.
AFP
