The fifty-two-year-old Josipovic, a law professor and a classical music composer, is the third president elected since Croatia’s independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991.
“This is a victory which we can all celebrate because it is my deep belief that all of us want a better and more just Croatia,” Josipovic was quoted as saying by the BBC. “I deeply believe that all of us want to live in a country in which work is rewarded and crime punished, in a country of social security and justice.”
Josipovic, the candidate from the Social Democratic Party, won with an unexpectedly large share of 60.3 percent of the vote. Second was the independent mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, with 39.71 percent. The third candidate, Andrija Hebrang, candidate of the right-wing party, left the race after the first round on Dec. 27, 2009.
The new president is more oriented toward Europe and is not part of the previously nationalistically-inclined clique of the first head of state Franjo Tudjman and, later, his more moderate associate Stjepan “Stipe” Mesic.
The public may have preferred Mesic, but he could no longer be elected because of legislative limitations—he served two successive five-year terms.
Croatia’s Outlook
the Republic of Croatia, locally called Republika Hrvatska is a small country of 4.5 million people, situated in the southeastern Europe. Its neighbors are Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, and Serbia and Montenegro to the east. The country is famous for its beautiful, Mediterranean-climate resorts, placed along the sunny coast of the Adriatic Sea.
After the death of Yugoslavia’s dictator Josip Broz, alias Tito, the federation, consisting of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia, started to decay and each region began to split apart. The end of communism in Europe in 1989 brought the final disintegration of the Yugo bloc.
Now, Croatia is a modern, democratic country and a parliamentary republic. The main concerns that face the government are the unemployment rate of 16 percent, widespread corruption, and a weak economy.
