On March 14, Croatia's parliament was dissolved to pave the way for parliamentary elections later this year, with 143 out of 151 MPs supporting the decision.
Prime Minister Plenkovic proposed that the elections be held before the vote for the European Parliament, which will be held on June 6-9, but no date has been set yet.
The decision to dissolve parliament comes as Plenkovic and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party face growing opposition accusations of corruption at the highest levels ahead of the vote.
Last month, thousands of protesters gathered in the Croatian capital to protest against the government and demand that this year's parliamentary elections be held as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister denies any wrongdoing.
Plenković and HDZ are expected to be challenged by a group of centrist and left-wing parties that have already announced they will participate in a coalition. The prime minister's party has been in power since Croatia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
By the end of the year, presidential elections must also be held in Croatia.
The country, with a population of around 3.8 million people, was the last to join the European Union and remains one of the poorest economies in the bloc, surviving mainly on tourism along the Adriatic coast./BGNES
