Pro-West Josipovic wins Croatia presidency

Legal scholar and left-wing opposition candidate Ivo Josipovic won Croatia’s presidential election, upsetting the capital’s popular mayor and confirming the country’s pro-Western course.

The state-run Electoral Commission said Social Democrat Mr Josipovic had 60.29% of the vote compared with 39.71% for Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic, with 99.6% of the vote counted.

Comparing his election to a “victorious symphony”, Mr Josipovic, 52 – who is also a classical music composer – said “every citizen who aims for a better, more just Croatia has won”.

Mr Bandic congratulated Mr Josipovic and said he was going back to work at the city council today.

Although the presidential role is somewhat limited in Croatia, the vote was seen as a test on whether the country would maintain its pro-Western course and fight against corruption.

The Cabinet and parliament are the key decision-makers, but the president is the supreme army commander, co-creator of foreign policy and hires and fires chiefs of intelligence services.

Mr Josipovic’s victory is also a boost for opposition Social Democrats, who ruled only from 2000 to 2003 and sets up a possible showdown with the government over how to battle corruption and revive the economy, though Mr Josipovic is expected to support the government’s push to join the European Union in 2012.

Both candidates had pledged to nurture good relations with Washington and Brussels, though Mr Bandic’s backers included right-wingers and nationalists who detest the government’s pro-Western course.

Mr Bandic had campaigned as a patriot, tapping into the traditional rivalry with Serbia that erupted during the war for independence from Yugoslavia, and some worried that he could challenge the country’s EU goal.

“The vote was a referendum on whether Croatians want a European, modern Croatia, or the other one,” Mr Josipovic’s campaign manager Mirando Mrsic said.

Analysts said Mr Josipovic won points by vowing to bring justice and root out corruption among officials – promises that resonated with Croats who are disappointed with the government’s stumbling efforts in the nation of 4.5 million that gained independence in 1991.

Mr Josipovic also appealed to voters tired of politics-as-usual. But voters supporting the country’s EU aspirations were also keen to keep any obstacles out of office.

Mr Josipovic “will co-operate with (prime minister) Jadranka Kosor, but he won’t abandon his critical review of her Cabinet’s work”, Social Democrat colleague Milanka Opacic said.

“He will primarily take care of the citizens and how the economic situation can be improved.”

Mr Josipovic, an international law professor at the Zagreb Law Faculty, left politics in 1994 to pursue legal and music careers, but returned seven years ago, becoming a national MP.

He has an untainted record, but even his supporters say he lacks charisma.