Slovenia Elects First Female President

Liberal rights advocate Natasa Pirc Musar has won a run-off to become Slovenia’s first female head of state, saying she will seek to bridge the deep left-right divide in the Alpine nation of two million.

With nearly all of the votes counted in the small European Union nation on Sunday, Pirc Musar led Slovenia’s conservative former Foreign Minister Anze Logar by 54 percent to 46 percent.

Her victory boosts the country’s liberal bloc following the centre-left coalition victory in Slovenia’s parliamentary election in April.

“My first task will be to open a dialogue among all Slovenians,” she said as her election team celebrated. “In the democratic election, Slovenians have shown what kind of a country they want.”

“All my life I’ve advocated the same values: democracy, human rights, tolerance. It’s time to stop dealing with the past. Many things have to be done in the future,” she declared.