Brussels, 12/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Former foreign minister, Conservative Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, 46, was elected President of Croatia following the second round of the presidential election on Sunday 11 January. She defeated the out-going president, Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic, to become the first woman in the Balkans to be elected president by universal suffrage.
She promised Croatians a rich and prosperous country, one of the most developed countries of the EU and of the world. For the last six years, Croatia has been in serious economic crisis. The new president garnered 50.4% of the votes against Josipovic's 49.6%. After the first round of voting two weeks ago, Josipovic, 57, a law professor and composer of classical music seeking a second five-year term of office, was only very slightly ahead of Grabar-Kitarovic, who was the country's foreign minister from 2005 till 2008. This first round result somewhat dented the Josipovic campaign, the Left-wing coalition (SDP) candidate having been well ahead in the opinion polls.
In this former Yugoslav republic, which has been independent since 1991 and which became the EU's 28th member state in 2013, the turn-out on Sunday was 58.9%, 12 points higher than in the first round. Voters in this country of 4.2 million souls punished Josipovic's lack of firmness in the face of his government's inability to get the economy back on track.
Croatia has been in virtually permanent recession since 2008 and public debt stands at almost 80% of GDP. This figure is expected to fall by around 0.5% in 2014. Unemployment is hovering around the 20% mark and one young person in two is unemployed.
The conservatives of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) are looking to use the situation to return to the forefront of the political scene ahead of the general election towards the end of 2015. The HDZ lost the previous general election amid corruption scandals at the highest levels of the state and weakened by the economic situation.
The position of head of state is largely symbolic in Croatia: the president cannot veto laws passed by parliament but cooperates with the government in the areas of foreign policy and defence.
Gabar-Kitarovic will be “an excellent President of Croatia. She has a compelling vision for the future of the country and has outlined a programme which responds to the concrete concerns of the Croatian people. She has answers to the challenges of achieving a better economic and social situation and, importantly, is firmly committed to strengthening the rule of law and tackling challenges like corruption. ... she also has the necessary experience and leadership to unite the Croatian citizens”, Joseph Daul, president of the European People's Party (EPP), said. (LC)