Croatia will hold its presidential election on Dec. 22, PrimeMinister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday.
The election will pitthe incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, candidate of the ruling centre-right CroatianDemocratic Union (HDZ), against the candidate of the Social Democrats andformer prime minister Zoran Milanovic. Two independent candidates also havesolid support in the polls.
The job is largelyceremonial. The president cannot veto laws but has a say in foreign policy anddefence.
According to themost recent opinion poll, in the first round of the vote Grabar-Kitarovic canexpect support of some 29 percent of voters, while Milanovic is second with 24percent.
Miroslav Skoro,popular singer and largely seen as the candidate of the right-wing nationalistconservatives, came third with 17 percent and a former judge Mislav Kolakusicgot 14 percent.
Altogether around adozen people voiced their intention to run for the presidency, among them ashowbiz celebrity who was also a Playboy model. They all now have to collect10,000 signatures of citizens in the next 10 days to confirm their candidacy.
Grabar-Kitarovic'sfive-year term is seen by some observers as having little policy substancedomestically while often trying to promote her popularity through populistpatriotic rethoric.
