Bucharest, 15 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) — Early parliamentary elections in Croatia will take place on April 17. The date was set by President Zoran Milanović, who also said he would run for the post of prime minister.

April 17 is a Wednesday. In Croatia, voters usually go to the polls on a Sunday.

The left-liberal opposition parties in particular welcomed the choice of a weekday as the election date. They hope it will increase turnout, since many citizens might use a Sunday for outings rather than to vote.

The last time voting took place during the week in the EU country on the Adriatic coast was for parliamentary elections in 2000.

Normally, Croatian voters would go to the polls this autumn. But observers believe that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who only has a narrow majority in parliament, wanted the snap election to forestall the threat of a further drop in popularity. He has recently been criticized for his media and judicial policies.

President Milanović, a Social Democrat, is a political opponent of Plenković, whose HDZ party belongs to the conservative European People's Party (EPP).