Bangui mayor Catherine Samba-Panza, 59, has been elected interim president of the Central African Republic, making her the first woman to hold the post.
She beat her rival Desire Kolingba in the second round of voting by the interim parliament.
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting on Monday to send troops to CAR, diplomatic sources said.
Violence has continued, with two Muslim men killed and burnt in the capital Bangui on Sunday.
Nearly a million people have been forced from their homes – 20% of the population – by the conflict between Muslims and Christians.
In her victory speech, Ms Samba-Panza urged Christian militias, known as anti-balaka, and Muslim fighters in the ex-Seleka rebel movement to end the bloodshed.
“I call on my children, especially the anti-balaka, to put down their arms and stop all the fighting. The same goes for the ex-Seleka – they should not have fear. I don’t want to hear any more talk of murders and killings,” she said, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Cheers broke out in the National Transitional Council, which serves as an interim parliament, when Ms Samba-Panza’s victory was announced.
“Starting today, I am the president of all Central Africans, without exclusion,” she is quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Ms Samba-Panza succeeds CAR’s first Muslim leader Michel Djotodia, who resigned on 10 January under pressure from regional leaders and the former colonial power, France, over his failure to curb the conflict.
She is a Christian but the successful businesswoman is seen as politically neutral.
She was accepted by both sides when she was proposed as Bangui’s mayor under the interim administration.
