Prime Minister and the HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Sunday, while coming to his party's convention in Zagreb, that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) will win the 17 April parliamentary elections, regardless of President Zoran Milanovic's nomination as the SDP party's lead candidate.

Answering the questions from the press whether the announcement of President Milanovic to join the election race has “messed up the plan of the HDZ”, Plenkovic said:”We will win.”

As for speculations whether Milanovic’s candidacy in the parliamentary elections while he is still serving as the president is against the Constitution, Plenkovic said that it would be on the Constitutional Court to decide on the matter.

HDZ Vice President and Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic said that the HDZ is ready for the elections and expect the victory.

Butkovic said that he did not know how the Constitutional Court would decide on the issue on Monday, but he believes that Milanovic’s candidacy is contrary to the Constitution.

It is unprecedented that, when the parliament is dissolved, the President of the Republic, who is supposed to be non-partisan, is announcing his candidacy for the (parliamentary) election campaign,” said Butkovic.

About 2,000 delegates gathered in the Vatroslav Lisinski Hall for the 20th convention of the HDZ, and the president of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), Andres Pastrana Arango, will address the event, while European People’s Party (EPP) leader, Manfred Weber, will address the event via video.

Also, leaders of Croat communities in Montenegro and Serbia, Adrijan Vuksanovic and Tomislav Zigmanov respectively, and HDZ BiH leader Dragan Covic are some of the speakers at the convention.

European Commission Vice President Dubravka Suica and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prime Minister Borjana Kristo are attending the event.