ZAGREB, June 18, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who is currently in Estonia, briefly commented on Tuesday on former prime minister Zoran Milanovic's announcement that he would run for the presidency and said that everyone who satisfies the conditions in the Constitution has the right to be a candidate.
"As I have said before, anyone in Croatia who meets the conditions in the Croatian Constitution has the right to be a candidate," she briefly told Croatian reporters, who were asked earlier by her entourage not to ask her when she intends to announce her candidacy.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković would not comment on former SDP prime minister Zoran Milanović's presidency bid on Tuesday.
"This is a democratic country, anyone can stand as a candidate, and formal candidacies are still a few months away," Plenković told a press conference in Zagreb.
Asked if Milanović's bid was unexpected, the prime minister said he had not thought about it. Plenković recalled that he had defeated Milanović in the parliamentary election three years ago and added: "He may lose again."
Asked if the message he had made on Monday at a ceremony marking 30 years since the foundation of his HDZ party was a call to the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to announce her candidacy for a second term in office, Plenković said that it was up to the president to choose the best time to announce her bid.
"As you could see yesterday from the reaction of the audience, the HDZ will give her strong support, and she has had my support all this time. It's up to her to decide when she will announce her candidacy, I think the message from the Lisinski concert hall was very clear yesterday, and you should ask her why she is waiting," he added.
Addressing Monday's ceremony, Plenković said he expected Grabar-Kitarović to run for a second term in office, adding that it was up to her to decide the right time to announce her presidency bid and that the HDZ was waiting for her "with open arms."
More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.
