The 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 % of the ballots cast.
“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.
The vote was always expected to be close. Josipovic won 38.5 percent of the vote, just edging Grabar-Kitarovic with 37.2 percent.
The presidency in Croatia is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote was considered an important test for the main political parties before the parliamentary elections expected in the second half of the year.
SOURCE:CBS NEWS
The 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 % of the ballots cast.
“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.
The vote was always expected to be close. Josipovic won 38.5 percent of the vote, just edging Grabar-Kitarovic with 37.2 percent.
The presidency in Croatia is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote was considered an important test for the main political parties before the parliamentary elections expected in the second half of the year.
SOURCE:CBS NEWS
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