Croatia will choose a new president in a January run-off seen as a key test for next year's parliamentary election after an unexpectedly tight first round as the country struggles with economic crisis. Centre-left incumbent Ivo Josipovic and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of the main opposition conservative HDZ both failed to win an outright majority in Sunday's vote for the largely ceremonial post in the small EU nation.
Josipovic was just a hair's breadth ahead of Grabar-Kitarovic with almost 38.5 percent compared with just over 37 percent, according to official results from almost all polling stations.
"Kolinda caught up with Josipovic!" and "To a run-off on equal footing!" blared the front-page headlines of the main newspapers in the small EU nation on Monday.
The result reflected voter disappointment with both the government's poor record after six years of recession and Josipovic's lack of criticism of the ruling coalition. Josipovic - the third president of the former Yugoslav republic since independence in 1991 - is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the coalition's main force.
"A poor economic situation and major public discontent decided the vote's outcome," political analyst Radovan Vukadinovic told AFP.
Local media echoed the view, saying widespread dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's government affected Josipovic.
"Public see the president as part of those disappointing structures and Josipovic did not want to distance himself from them more radically," commented the influential Jutarnji List.
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