Slovenia elects first woman president in a runoff vote

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Liberal rights advocate Natasa Pirc Musar won a runoff Sunday to become Slovenia's first female head of state, and said she will seek to bridge the deep left-right divide in the Alpine nation of 2 million.

With nearly all of the votes counted in the small European Union nation, Pirc Musar led Slovenia's conservative former Foreign Minister Anze Logar by 54% to 46%. Her victory boosts the country's liberal bloc following the centerleft 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.

Logar conceded defeat, saying he hopes Pirc Musar “will carry out all the promises” that she made during the campaign.

Pirc Musar, 54, will be the first woman to serve as president since Slovenia became independent amid the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991.

A prominent lawyer, Pirc Musar had represented former U.S. first lady Melania Trump in copyright and other cases in her native Slovenia.