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Opposition candidate leads in Croatian presidential run-off: officail

Xinhua, January 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Opposition presidential candidate Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic leads in the presidential run-off on Sunday, according to results from 97.5 percent of the polling stations, State Electoral Committee (SEC) said in a press conference.

Kitarovic, candidate from largest opposition party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), won 50.54 percent of vote while incumbent President Ivo Josipovic got 49.46 percent, said Branko Horvatin, the president of SEC.

Final official results will be known on Monday after all poll stations abroad closed.

Grabar Kitarovic, 46, currently Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy at NATO and former Croatian Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United States, is supported, beside largest opposition party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), by eight parties. She will be the first female President in Croatian history if she beats Josipovic.

Josipovic, 57, is supported by Social democratic Party, the biggest party in the government and other 18 parties.

The Croatian president is elected every five years and can serve no more than two consecutive terms. Josipovic, the third president of the country, took office in 2010. Endit