Ivo Josipović was today (18 February) sworn in as president of Croatia at an inauguration ceremony attended by all the heads of state in the region, with the notable exception of Serbian President Boris Tadić. Croatia is poised to become the first country to join the EU since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. The country is expected to complete its accession negotiations in 2010. Croatia holds parliamentary elections every four years and presidential elections every five years. Most of the executive power is vested in the post of prime minister. The latter position has been held since July 2009 by Jadranka Kosor, after the resignation of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. Social Democratic candidate Ivo Josipović won 60.3% of the vote in the second round of the presidential race on 10 January 2010. He was running against Milan Bandić, the populist mayor of Zagreb. The change of guard' with outgoing President Stjepan Mesić took place in Zagreb's St Mark's Square under the eyes of European heads of state (Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina) and diplomatic delegations from around 80 countries, including Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, Canadian Minister of State Lynne Yelich and Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu.
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