Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic says Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will be the presidential candidate for the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in elections later this year.

Stefanovic, a key ally of the prime minister, said after an SNS party meeting in Belgrade on February 14 that Vucic had been chosen "unanimously."

Vucic will face rivals from a fractious opposition in the elections.

The date for the vote has not yet been formally announced.

Serbia's presidency is a largely ceremonial post.

But if Vucic controls both the presidency and the comfortable majority the SNS now holds in the 250-seat parliament, he could wield formidable political power.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and Reuters