President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that it would be "cool" if Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic were to run for president. He added that this would not violate the law, regardless of the fact that the government has called elections.

Speaking to the press after a Novigrad Podravski Municipality Day celebration, Milanovic said he was “calm and ready” for the presidential elections and ” was not thinking about his rivals. He added that the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic must of course prepare for him.

“I will have to be careful not to be provoked by guys like Gordan Grlic-Radman or the one who talks to a cow that has a male genital organ,” Milanovic told reporters, referring to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and the Minister of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, respectively.

The selection of constitutional judges was narrowed down to a very small number of people

He said the last election campaign had been “tough but decent”. “When you are dealing with people who are ready for anything, you have to hit hard because there is no other way,” the president said.

When asked about the appointment of the constitutional judges, for which 45 candidates had applied, Milanovic said that he himself was responsible for the fact that they had been elected with a two-thirds majority in parliament since 2010.

He expressed the hope that one side of the parliament would do its best to nominate for these positions “people with impeccable careers, public reputation and untainted intelligence, people who are not exhibitionists and posers who go around interpreting the constitution as they see fit.”

Milanovic said the selection has been narrowed down to a very small number of people, adding that “there will be all sorts of people from the demi-monde, but also great people.”

“Only a few people who deserve to be called constitutional judges sit on the current Constitutional Court,” he concluded.