ZAGREB: Opposition conservative Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was set to become Croatia’s first female president on Sunday after winning a runoff vote with a pledge to kickstart the country’s ailing economy, exit polls showed.

Grabar-Kitarovic, a 46-year-old ex-foreign minister and former NATO official, had 51.4 percent of the vote, according to exit polls released by state-run HRT television after Sunday’s run-off.

Her rival, centre-left incumbent Ivo Josipovic, garnered 48.6 per cent of the vote, showed the exit polls released by the Ipsos Puls agency.

The first partial official results were to be released by the electoral commission around 2030 GMT.

Should they confirm the exit polls, Grabar-Kitarovic, who ran on behalf of the main opposition HDZ party, will be the first Croatian woman to take the helm of the European Union’s newest member.

She would also become the first female head of state chosen by voters in the largely patriarchal Balkans region since Albania’s Jatifete Jahjaga was elected by parliament in 2011.

The election for the largely ceremonial post was held as Croatia, which became the EU’s 28th member in July 2013, grappled with a deep economic crisis.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2015

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