The head of the Croatian Journalists Union, Maja Sever, has been elected President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) at the organisation's general meeting that is taking place in Izmir, Turkey on June 13 and 14, the Croatian Journalists Association announced on Tuesday.

Sever received 137 votes, while the other candidate for this position, Mariusz Pilis of Poland, got 7 votes.

Sever is the first woman to serve as EFJ President in the organisation’s history. She thanked the delegates for their nearly unanimous support.

“This election is a great honour to me and a chance for us to continue our struggle for strong and independent professional journalism,” Sever said after her election.

She said her presidency would focus on the safety of journalists, improvement of worker and professional rights and the status of freelance journalists, and the fight against SLAPP lawsuits. She also highlighted the importance of journalist associations and unions fighting for better strategic and legislative frameworks at the national and EU levels.

The EFJ is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 320,000 journalists in 73 journalists’ organisations across 45 countries.