Croatia will hold presidential elections on December 29, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday, with the largely ceremonial post probably not being decided until a run-off two weeks later.

The government will officially call the election on Thursday, he told reporters.

Incumbent populist Zoran Milanovic, whose term expires in February and will be seeking his second term, has a comfortable lead in surveys, enjoying the support of around one third of the electorate.

His main opponent is the candidate of Plenkovic’s ruling conservative HDZ party, Dragan Primorac, surveys show.

Opinion polls suggest that no one will win a majority in the first round, with the winner to be decided in a run-off on January 12.

Milanovic won the presidency of the European Union member nation in January 2020 as the candidate of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP).

Although he advocated a “normal Croatia” as a liberal democracy, in recent years Milanovic has employed more populist rhetoric.

The 58-year-old president has denounced the EU’s stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, prompting the prime minister to accuse him of holding “pro-Russian views”.

While the role is mostly ceremonial, the president represents Croatia on the world stage, coordinates foreign policy with the government, and is in charge of the country’s armed forces.