The Croatian prime minister has announced that a presidential election will be held later this year.
ADVERTISEMENTCroatia will hold the first round of its presidential elections on December 22, the country's prime minister has said.
Andrej Plenkovic made the announcement on Thursday during a government session.
While the prime minister is Croatia's main power in government, the president does have a say in foreign policy and defence issues.
Despite this, the presidential role does not have a hand in vetoing the country's laws.
In the upcoming election, the incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) will be up against a candidate from the Social Democrats and Croatia's former prime minister Zoran Milanovic.
A recent opinion poll saw Grabar-Kitarovic taking the lead with 29% of the vote, while Milanovic polled at 24%.