Croatia to hold presidential election on Dec. 22

By Sanela Crnovrsanin

ZAGREB, Croatia (AA) - Croatia will hold presidential election on Dec. 22, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced on Thursday.

"Today we make the decision to call the first round of presidential elections for Dec. 22," Plenkovic said at a government session.

The current President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will seek for a second term and she will be challenged by former Primer Minister Zoran Milanovic, who is the candidate of Social Democratic Party.

Singer Miroslav Skoro is also one of the candidates.

According to the opinion polls, although Kitarovic is the favorite candidate, no one will win an outright victory.

If none of the candidates wins a majority, a presidential runoff vote will be held after 14 days, which corresponds to Jan. 5.

The two candidates who win the largest number of votes at the first elections shall have the right to stand for the repeated election, according to the constitution.

* Writing by Diyar Guldogan