Croatia will hold a parliamentary election on April 17

Croatia’s president has set the date of the next parliamentary election as April 17. President Zoran Milanovic scheduled the vote after Croatia’s parliament dissolved on Thursday. The ballot will pit the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union against a group of centrist and left-leaning parties who have announced they will run as an alliance. Just hours after setting the election date, in a surprise move, Milanovic announced he would run for prime minister as the candidate of the opposition Social Democratic Party. He will challenge the current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. Croatia became the newest member of the European Union in 2013 and joined Europe’s free travel and euro zones last year.