No Croatian presidential winner, runoff elections soon

ZAGREB, Croatia, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A runoff election between Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and challenger Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will take place in two weeks after candidates failed to reach a majority vote in Sunday's presidential election.

Social Democrat Josipovic won 38.48 percent of votes while Croatian Democratic Union candidate Grabar-Kitarovic secured 37.18 percent with 99.84 percent of polling stations reporting, according to the Republic of Croatia State Election Commission.

"Grabar-Kitarovic advances to run-off as a favorite, for several reasons," Zarko Puhovski, a political science professor at the University of Zagreb, said in an interview with Bloomberg. "The Croatian Democratic Union has traditionally been better at mobilizing its voters."

"Strongly support young people on the eve of the debates - Victory, victory!" a translation of Grabar-Kitarovic's post on Twitter said.

The winner of the Jan. 11 runoff election for the five-year presidential term will have to work in a coalition government led by Social Democrats that is increasingly blamed for Croatia's financial difficulties.

Since 2008, unemployment has doubled and gross domestic product has decreased by about 12 percent. The country, which joined the European Union in 2013, also has a labor participation rate of 50 percent, one of the lowest for EU members.