Struggling Croatia holds tight presidential run-off

Croatians cast ballots Sunday to elect a president in a tight run-off between incumbent centre-left Ivo Josipovic and conservative Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, both pledging to help kickstart the newest EU member's ailing economy.
      
The two emerged practically neck and neck from the first round of polling two weeks ago, with Josipovic, a 57-year-old former law professor and classical music composer, just one percentage point ahead of Grabar-Kitarovic with 38.5 percent of the vote.
      
The popular incumbent, the third president of the former Yugoslav republic since independence in 1991, is a member of the Social Democrats (SDP), the main force in the ruling coalition.
     
His rival from the main opposition HDZ party, a former foreign minister and NATO assistant secretary general, aims to become the country's first woman president.
      
Turnout was 21.92 percent at 1030 GMT, four and a half hours after polling stations across the Balkan nation opened, the electoral commission said. It was almost nine percentage points more than at the same time in the first round and for elections in 2010.
      
Although presidential powers are limited in Croatia, Sunday's vote is seen as a key test for parliamentary elections later this year in which the HDZ is likely to make significant gains.
      
Analysts believe the close first-round result reflects dissatisfaction with the SDP-led government's performance and Josipovic's failure to criticise its economic policies.
      
Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's government has become hugely unpopular after failing to revive Croatia's economy, which has been struggling with recession for the past six years.
      
"The recession ... is not only the...