Ivo Josipović

Opposition challenger Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was elected Croatia's first female president on Jan. 11, narrowly winning a tight run-off vote with a pledge to kickstart the EU country's ailing economy.
      

Croatia's new president saluted her surprise victory in Sunday's presidential election.

Addressing her "dear Croatian men and women all over Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and around the world", she spoke of this "great night in which we have achieved a victory for our patriotic coalition and beloved homeland".

"Dissatisfied Croats" elect first woman president

The victory of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in the Croatian presidential election was a reflection of the dissatisfaction of Croatian citizens, the media say.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has won in the second round of elections that were held in Croatia on Sunday, becoming the country's first female president.

Grabar-Kitarovic, who is from the oppositional Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), won against incumbent Ivo Josipovic with the narrowest of margins, the BBC reports.

Croatians cast ballots Sunday 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.
      

ZAGREB - We will support Serbia on its EU path, but it needs to fulfil all the conditions Croatia fulfilled in the process, Croatian President and presidential candidate Ivo Josipovic said on Sunday.

After a close race in the first round of Croatian presidential elections, voters today will decide whether their head of state for the next five years will be the centre-left incumbent, Ivo Josipovic, or the candidate of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic. First results are expected some time this evening.

Incumbent president Ivo Josipovic, who is supported by centre-left government parties, and his challenger Kolida Grabar Kitarovic, the candidate of the centre-right opposition Croatian Democratic Union, both had words of warning for EU hopeful Serbia during the debate on Nova TV on Thursday evening.

Croatian presidential candidate on conditions for Serbia

ZAGREB -- A Croatian presidential candidate has said that she would condition Serbia's EU membership path "with the return of the missing persons from the (1990s) war."

With the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for Sunday, the race between incumbent, Ivo Josipovic, and the centre-right challenger, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, has entered its last days.

Both candidates made the final pitch for swing voters as polls predict the gap closing between them.