ZAGREB, July 7, 2019 - The main committee of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday overwhelmingly supported Zoran Milanović as the party's candidate for President of the Republic, with 70 votes in favour, one against and one abstention.

Milanović is the SDP's presidential candidate and whether he will also be the candidate of some other party, he will have to agree that with them, the committee's chairman Erik Fabijanić told the press after the meeting, explaining the meaning of the wording "support his candidacy".

He could not say with how much money the SDP would support Milanović's campaign, noting that this would be known when the election process and campaign fundraising began.

In addition to financial support, Milanović will also be able to count on the SDP's full logistical support, Fabijanić said.

Responding to questions from the press, he said that Milanović's platform was yet to be discussed. Asked if the main committee knew what they supported given that Milanović's election programme had not been unveiled yet, Fabijanić said: "That's why he only has our support for now."

Fabijanić is widely seen as a critic of Zoran Milanović, as is SDP deputy leader Zlatko Komadina who did not attend the committee meeting.

SDP leader Davor Bernardić later unequivocally confirmed that Milanovic was the SDP's presidential candidate.

Zoran Milanović on Saturday thanked the main committee of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for confirming him as the party's candidate for President of the Republic, saying that he was counting on them in the fight for "Croatia to become a progressive, modern and open society."

"You have decided, and I'm calling on others who share a vision of such a society to join in. Because if you choose me, even without any promises, Croatia will be a completely normal country," Milanović wrote on his Facebook page.

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ZAGREB, June 30, 2019 - The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanović, said in Supetar on the southern island of Brač on Saturday that the presidential race would be long and tough, adding that he expected that, as the candidate of modern and progressive Croatia, he would enter a second round of voting.

Speaking to the press, Milanović said he had come to Supetar at the invitation of his friends to attend Town Day festivities. He said he was taking the pulse of the people and listening to what people were saying.

Milanović declined to comment on current political affairs, including property-related scandals involving Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević, saying that he was not expected to do so under the constitution anyway. However, he said that he would fight for a Croatia free of "thievery and nepotism".

Regarding the possible departure of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to take the office of European Council president, Milanović said that, unlike his rivals, he was in favour of Croatian people being appointed to senior positions in international organisations abroad because that was good for Croatia.

On the subject of Croatia's relations with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milanović said that these were two neighbouring countries and "if they are weak, Croatia can get nothing, but can only lose."

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ZAGREB, June 25, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Tuesday that she was not afraid of anybody's candidacy for the presidential elections, whereas Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that everybody could run for the presidency, but that the winner would be the incumbent president Grabar-Kitarović.

Asked by the press whether she feared that her "postponement " in the formal announcement of her decision to run for the second term, considering also the candidacy announced by pop singer Miroslav Škoro, could diminish her chances, the president said: "I am not afraid of anything".

Plenković also dismissed speculations that Škoro's candidacy could affect the ratings of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

"The HDZ has its candidate. The party has the current president of the republic. The HDZ will win the presidential elections and I can't see any problem," the HDZ leader said adding that "this is a democracy in which all can stand in elections, but Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will win".

The president and the premier gave these statements after a wreath-laying ceremony at Mirogoj Cemetery on the occasion of Croatia's Statehood Day, observed on 25 June.

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ZAGREB, June 24, 2019 - Zoran Milanović who is running in the presidential race on behalf of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), entered the campaign entirely unprepared and did not show any political will or ideas of what he would do as the country's president whereas Miroslav Škoro, very convincingly presented his concept of reforms to the Constitution which would give the president more powers and is perceived by two analysts as a much better candidate for playing play a conciliatory role.

"Zoran Milanović entered the campaign completely unprepared without any new ideas and without any announcements of what his objectives as president would be. Unlike him, Miroslav Škoro very convincingly presented his concept of reforming the Constitution which would strengthen the role of the president," political analyst Davor Gjenero told Hina.

He underscored that the concept of "plebiscitary democracy" that Škoro is offering is de Gaulle's concept of ruling, to which the model of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic was adapted to and Croatia's Constitution on the most part emerged on the example of that model.

Gjenero briefly commented on Milanović saying that it seems that his candidacy is "a mere attempt to escape from the hard work in the business sector where he didn't achieve any great success."

Analyst Žarko Puhovski agreed with Gjenero saying that Milanović believes that his person and personality are enough of a platform for the presidential race. "The problem is that he is implicitly saying something similar to Škoro because our Constitution does not need a president with a strong personality. Our system requires a president as a mediator and conciliator and that is not a role that can be associated with Zoran Milanović," Puhovski told Hina.

He believes Škoro could have that role because he has shown to be polite and always rejects any radical formations and in that regard he could be a better candidate as a conciliator.

As far as the incumbent president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is concerned and her role as a conciliator, Puhovski thinks that she has been wandering - "she was very right and then a little in the centre and now is on the right again." "That is not conciliation. She did not show enough resoluteness. That is why Milanović's motto of a President with Character, is more a polemic with Grabar-Kitarović who did not show sufficient character," Puhovski said.

He said that Škoro is more or less a new face on the political scene but in fact represents Tudjman's old platform for the 21st century "but in a milder and less staunch way, because these are different times."

"That is a populist platform. Populism today is the latest fad and Škoro is in the know of what is happening in large world centres."

On the other hand, Puhovski thinks that Milanović is the man the left wants yet he does not want to be a candidate for the left unlike Grabar-Kitarović who wants to be the candidate for the right but the right does not want her.

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ZAGREB, June 23, 2019 - Pop singer Miroslav Škoro announced in a video message on his Facebook page on Sunday morning that he would run for President, saying that his decision was prompted by his belief that Croatia needed a stronger constitutional role for its President.

He said that the gist of his platform was forming an alliance with the people rather than maintaining the rule of political elites who make compromises away from the public eye and against the will of the people.

"I want to be a people's president and accountable only to you," Škoro said, stressing that, if elected, his first move would be to call on Parliament to change the Constitution.

If this initiative is rejected, I will suggest that the Prime Minister call a constitutional referendum, and if he turns down my proposal, I will call on citizens to collect signatures for a referendum, he said, adding that in that case he would like to see who would dare try to ignore the will of the people.

Škoro said that the President of the Republic is the only office holder who represents the entire nation and who receives his or her mandate directly from the people. "That's why the political influence of the President should be proportional to this fact," he said, adding that he does not want to be a decorative president but one that will have enough powers to implement policies for which he has been elected by the people.

These powers should include calling referenda, convening government sessions, nominating candidates for Constitutional Court judges, and a temporary veto.

He stressed that the President must have the right to call a referendum without the Prime Minister's consent.

In a jibe at the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Škoro said he can't promise that Croatia will be among the richest countries in the world, but that he will use all his intellectual and entrepreneurial abilities in the service of the state. Alluding to former SDP prime minister Zoran Milanovic, who is also running for the presidency, he said that Croatia is not "an accidental state" and that he will prove that it is indeed a successful project that has been jeopardised by incompetent politicians.

"I want to restore trust in the institution of the President of the Republic and I need your vote so that together we can give fresh impetus to Croatian culture and science," he said and added that if elected, he will advocate the European Union as a community of equal and sovereign nations, rather than a federation or a unitary state, and will protect the interests of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighbouring countries and promote closer ties between Croatia and its diaspora.

Škoro said that illegal migration and terrorism are the biggest security threats to Croatia and that Croatia must win support from European partners to defend the common border of the European Union. He said that the modernisation of the Croatian army must continue so as to deter anyone with territorial claims on Croatia or anyone that may wish to bring Croatia into a subordinate position.

Škoro called on all disillusioned voters to go to the polls and help him return government to the people. He said that Croatia today is governed by a controlled party system, with the two strongest parties rotating in power and backed by their trading partners.

He said that the political elites are completely alienated from the people and arrogant to the extent that they use all sorts of tricks to prevent referendums. "The loss of trust in the institutions of the state has assumed worrying proportions, with some even referring to Croatia as an unsuccessful project," Škoro said.

He said that "hundreds and thousands of Croatian daughters and sons" have emigrated because they had no chance here without a party membership card. "They simply didn't want to live in a country in which a spiral of hatred and intolerance is eating away its very foundations. This is not the Croatia which our ancestors dreamt of, which Dr Franjo Tuđman set out to create and which Croatian defenders fought and died for."

Škoro said that the victory in the 1991-1995 Homeland War and the unity achieved during that time must be a starting point in the development of the modern Croatian state, and that in such circumstances Croatia needs a president that will be "a tool of the people" for a decisive change.

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ZAGREB, June 22, 2019 - Pop singer, composer, arranger and producer Miroslav Škoro will formally announce his bid for President of Croatia on Sunday morning, he wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday afternoon.

"As I have promised, I will announce my decision to run for President tomorrow at 9 am sharp on this Facebook page. I thank everyone ... for helping me reach this decision," the singer wrote.

Škoro has earned a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, where he was born in 1962. From 1995 to 1997, he served as Croatian Consul-General to Hungary. He ran in the 2007 parliamentary election as a candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party and became a member of parliament, withdrawing from politics a few years later. Apart from singing, he is also a successful businessman.

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ZAGREB, June 22, 2019 - Zoran Milanović, former prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the party's candidate for the next President of the Republic, told reporters in Brezovica on Saturday that he had arrived to attend the celebration of Anti-Fascist Struggle Day and to be with his friends and people who cared about anti-fascism.

"I'm here for Anti-Fascist Struggle Day, the only holiday that mentions struggle. I'm here for the tenth time and am pleased. These were our boys and girls in 1941, as were those in 1991. It's quite connected," Milanović said.

"I think very many Croats and citizens of Croatia care about this. This is my return to public life. It so happened that this is my first public event. The first day of the struggle was Monday," Milanović said, referring to June 17 when he formally announced his presidency bid. He said that these would not be to topics on his campaign agenda.

Asked about his chances of winning the presidential race, Milanović said that it would be a competition and the strongest competitor would win. "I believe that Croatia will choose a new policy. This time I'm not entering the race with the burden of being a favourite in the opinion polls, as was the case before, so it's easier for me."

Commenting on the fact that the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was not present at today's ceremony, Milanovic said that as far as he could remember Grabar-Kitarović had never been to Brezovica.

"It's their message and you'll have to ask them. I was surprised, but not negatively, by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's message of several days ago to the heroes of the (WWII) Battle of Sutjeska, and a government envoy is also here today," Milanović said.

Speaking of his departure from politics after the previous elections, Milanović said that the HDZ had won slightly more votes than the SDP and that he had thought he had no moral right to ask to be a prime minister-designate.

"The SDP was a strong party, and Plenković reduced his party to 22 percent in the last election, but it's their problem," Milanovic said.

As for media reports on Grabar-Kitarović and Plenković as possible candidates for the post of European Commission President, Milanovic said he was not against it. "If either of them can become Commission President, I'm in favour, because in that way they can contribute to Croatia's reputation," he said, noting that the Commission President's job was not to work for their own country but to protect the European treaties.

He said he would like the Croatian candidate to become Secretary of the Council of Europe.

Milanović could not say if he would accept the President's invitation to attend a reception for Statehood Day. "It depends on my obligations and my schedule. But it won't be a celebration, but a cocktail party. A celebration should be a public event."

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ZAGREB, June 21, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović announced on her Facebook page on Thursday that she would not decide on running for a second term in office before Homeland Thanksgiving Day on August 5.

She thanked all the people for supporting her to run for a second term, "especially the party whose candidate I was five years ago."

Grabar-Kitarović said that she wanted to attend the Homeland Thanksgiving Day ceremony in Knin as President and not as a presidential candidate, "to leave this special day for Croatia out of the context of a political campaign."

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković recently called on Grabar-Kitarovic to run for a second term in office, saying that his HDZ party was waiting for her "with open arms", but that it was up to her to decide the timing of her announcement.

Former prime minister Zoran Milanović said recently that he would be running for the presidency as the candidate of the SDP party. According to media reports, pop singer Miroslav Škoro will join the race as an independent candidate and is expected to announce his candidacy by the end of this week. Elected MEP Mislav Kolakušić and MP Tomislav Panenić have also expressed their intentions to run for the presidency.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Friday morning that the incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had the prerogative to opt for the opportune time for her to announce her candidacy for a second term, and presidency challengers are supposed to express their aspirations before that.

"She (is the incumbent president. Let the contenders announce their decisions, while she has the prerogative to decide when she wants to formally announce whether she will rerun for the presidency," Plenković said.

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ZAGREB, June 19, 2019 - The Reformists are breaking off their cooperation with the ruling coalition to support Zoran Milanović as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for president, their leader Radimir Čačić announced on Wednesday.

Speaking in an interview with the N1 television station, Čačić said that he was no longer communicating with the ruling majority and that the party would definitely support Milanovic's presidency bid.

Cacic believes that Milanovic's chances of winning the election would be greater if Miroslav Škoro stood a candidate as he would attract the votes of "the clerical, hard-line right" which would reduce the chances for the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

Asked about the party's support for Andrej Plenković's government, Čačić said that the Reformists were never in coalition with the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) "nor will they ever be."

The government's results have led to this and we will be exiting cooperation on projects and will no longer communicate with the ruling majority.

The Reformists have one seat in parliament and were not in formal coalition with the HDZ but only supported the government through "cooperation on projects."

At the parliamentary election in 2016, the Reformists ran in coalition with the Labour and Solidarity party of Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić. They left Bandić's parliamentary group in January and have since then acted independently.

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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.