Independent candidate Natasa Pirc-Musar won the presidential election in Slovenia on Sunday, becoming the first female president in the country's history.

Pirc-Musar won around 54 percent of the vote in the runoff, while her rival Anze Logar received about 46 percent , STA news agency reported. Turnout was 50.58 percent.

Pirc-Musar, a former journalist and lawyer specialising in personal data protection cases, said that voters have decided what kind of Slovenia they want. She thanked the voters who turned out for the election, and in particular those who voted for her, and congratulated her rival.

“I will do my best indeed to be the president of all, fighting for fundamental human rights, constitutional rights, and democracy. I will do my best for us to unite on strategic issues,” Pirc-Musar said, adding that she would advocate quality public health and welfare services.

“I want Slovenia to become a country in which the elderly will be looked after and young people will want to stay. I want a Slovenia in which we will be more aware that we are facing hard times because of climate change,” she said.

Logar, a former foreign minister and the candidate of the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party, congratulated the new president, calling on her to be the president of all citizens. “Slovenia needs this now more than ever before,” he said, adding that the two of them had different views on certain issues, but that “it is in everyone’s interest to have a good president.”