They are entering the race for Croatia's president: Signatures submitted, one candidate is out

12 candidates will enter the race for Croatia's next president - they submitted the required number of signatures to the State Electoral Commission by the deadline, midnight last night.

The potential candidates in the presidential race are: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Zoran Milanovic, Miroslav Skoro, Mislav Kolakusic, Dejan Kovac, Anto Djapic, Dario Jurican, Katarina Peovic, Ivan Pernar, Dalija Oreskovic, Nedjeljko Babic, and Slobodan Midzic.

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Within the next 48 hours, the commission will process the submitted applications and signatures to either accept or reject them, and  will publish the final ranking of candidates for the president of the Republic of Croatia.

The election campaign will begin following the announcement of the official list of candidates. They will not be allowed to spend more than 8 million kunas (Croatian currency) on the campaign that will run until midnight on December 20, the website Klix.ba is reporting.

The current President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, from the HDZ, handed over 231,652 signatures, while SDP's Zoran Milanovic had close to 78,000.

Miroslav Skoro brought boxes containing close to 80,000 signatures to the commission, while Ivan Pernar handed over close to 15,000 signatures, as did Mislav Kolakusic. Dario Jurican said he collected 13,000 signatures, as did Anto Djapic.

A thousand more have been submitted by Nedjeljko Babic, while boxes with 16,000 signatures were handed over by Dejan Kovac. Katarina Peovic has 4,000 signatures supporting her candidacy. Dalija Oreskovic reportedly has 11,000 signatures - while Slobodan Midzic reportedly submitted only one signature and will therefore be "disqualified."

The minimum number of signatures that a potential candidate must submit is 10,000.

Although they announced entering the race, former Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ante Simonic, former MOST party official Tomislav Panenic, Ava Karabatic, and former Interior Minister Vlago Orepic in the end did not do so.

The presidential election is scheduled for Sunday, December 22.

(Telegraf.rs)