Croatia elects first woman president after tight vote

Opposition challenger Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was elected Croatia's first female president on Sunday, narrowly winning a tight run-off vote with a pledge to kickstart the EU country's ailing economy.
The politically 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 percent of the ballots cast.
Her rival, centre-left incumbent Ivo Josipovic, garnered 49.6 percent of the vote, results released by the electoral commission showed.
"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.
Sunday's election for the mainly ceremonial post was held as Croatia, which became the EU's 28th member in July 2013, grapples with a deep economic crisis.
"I will not let anyone tell me that Croatia will not be prosperous and wealthy," Grabar-Kitarovic told jubilant supporters in the capital, calling for national unity to tackle the economic crisis.