Woman President!

"Grabar-Kitarovic elected Croatia's first woman president"
Source: BBC News
By: N/A
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30765822

On January 11, 2015, Croatia applauded their first woman president when her name was announced. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has become the first female president of Croatia, "winning by the narrowest of margins" (BBC News). She was able to defeat Mr. Josipovic, who respectfully congradulated her and accepted his defeat. The election took place in a surrounding of pessimism about Croatia’s low economy. Croatia, being the newest member of the European Union, has one of the weakest economies in it. They have unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent. The youth unemployment is currently running at 41.5 percent. Mr Josipovic, who is a 57-year-old law expert and classical composer, has been the president of Croatia since 2010. Ms Grabar-Kitarovic was a member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).She has been politically conservative and has pushed the country towards independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. "The challenger's win is a sign that Croatia may be shifting to the right after the centre-left coalition's failure to end six years of downturn," is what BBC News had to say about Ms. Kolinda Grabar- Kitarovic's victory. The BBC's Guy De Launey also says that Mr Josipovic had been so popular for so long that it seemed "impossible he could fail in a bid for re-election". "The problem was that he was backed by the governing, centre-left coalition that has failed to pull Croatia out of a six-year-long recession," (BBC News). Hopefully, with a new woman in charge, Croatia's situation will able to turn around and a better future will come their way.