Josipovic wins first-round vote with slight margin

Josipovic wins first-round vote with slight margin

ZAGREB -- Croatian President Ivo Josipovic scored a slight advantage against HDZ party candidate Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic in the first round of the presidential election.

Josipovic, who ran on the Social Democratic Party ticket, received 38.56 percent of the votes, while Grbar Kitarovic won 37.08 percent, according to unofficial results of the Croatian Election Commission based on 95.91 percent of the counted ballots, Beta reported.

"The results come as a surprise, considering that election polls showed that Josipovic would score a convincing advantage," the agency said.

Another surprise is the 24-year old civil activist Ivan Sincic, who came in third with 16.47 percent of the votes, while the Alliance for Croatia candidate Milan Kujundzic was last with 6.29 percent of the ballots.

Kujundzic, the candidate of the political right, said he would back Grabar Kitarovic in the presidential runoff.