The head of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MP group in Parliament, MP Branko Bacic, said on Thursday that autumn was the appropriate deadline for the HDZ to start preparing for the upcoming presidential election.

Bacic added that he believed that by that time President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic would decide whether to run for her second term in office as HDZ’s candidate.

The next presidential elections are scheduled to be held either in Late 2019 or early 2020. Although the incumbent, Grabar-Kitarovic, assumed the largely ceremonial office in February 2015 as a candidate of HDZ, she has recently clashed over a variety of issues with HDZ’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his cabinet.

The conflicts between Plenkovic and Grabar-Kitarovic have led to media speculations that HDZ may seek some other candidate for the next presidential election, instead of supporting Grabar-Kitarovic again.

“I don’t think that the president (Grabar-Kitarovic) needs to be given a deadline. Early autumn (of 2018) is an appropriate deadline for the HDZ to launch preparations for presidential elections, and I believe that by autumn we will know if Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has decided to run for president for the second time as a HDZ candidate,” Bacic told reporters in Parliament.

Bacic said he believed that Grabar-Kitarovic has still not decided whether she would seek another term in office, and how.

“The HDZ is prepared to support her for another term,” he said.

However, Bacic added that Grabar-Kitarovic is hardly likely to win the presidential election without the backing of HDZ.

Asked to comment on speculations that Grabar-Kitarovic does not want to announce her plans regarding the next election because that would require her to stop criticising the government, Bacic replied that presidents are allowed to comment on current political events.

“She knows best whether it is necessary and good to comment on political events in Croatia on a daily basis, but it does raise the question of whether she supports the government or not. If you make comments daily, it is only natural that the media and members of the public wonder if those statements in favour of the government or against it,” said Bacic.

The work that the government does leaves enough room for the president to build her political rating on making good assessments of the government’s performance as well, he said.

“That performance will be wind in Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic’s back if she opts for another term in office,” Bacic said. He added that the HDZ was not yet considering proposing another presidential candidate, but was waiting for the president to decide.

Asked what would happen if she opted not to run, Bacic said, “All in good time.”

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