Who Governs Europe?
Slovenia
Slovenia – Parliamentary Elections 2011
Early elections in Slovenia have propelled Positive Slovenia, a centre-left party created by the mayor of Ljubjana two months ago, into government as the country’s largest party. Elections were due to take place in September 2012 but the fall of the Social Democrat-led government, headed by prime minister Borut Pahor, and the failure to appoint a replacement compelled President Danilo Türk to dissolve parliament.
Pahor has governed in Slovenia since 2008, forging a coalition with Zares – New Politics, Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS) and Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. However, tensions within the government in particular this year on the management of the economy has caused divisions that ultimately led to both Zares – New Politics and DeSUS leaving the government over the summer and a vote of no-confidence in September. Such antics ultimately have proved unpopular and results show that the Social Democrats have dropped from 29 seats to 10 seats, DeSUS went from 7 seats to 6 seats and both Zares – New Politics and Liberal Democracy of Slovenia saw their 9 and 5 seats respectively disappear entirely.
Instead, the vacuum has been filled by Zoran Janković, the mayor of Ljubjana and former CEO of the large Balkan supermarket Mercator, whose new Positive Slovenia party took 28 seats. In addition to this another new party, led by Gregor Virant, called Gregor Virant’s Civic List finished fourth and won eight seats. The main conservative party, the Slovenian Democratic Party led by former prime minister Janez Janša, finished second with 26 seats.
The main focus now will be the formation of a new governing coalition. Janša had been expected to win the election, but instead the spotlight will first be on Janković to try to convince potential partners that he will be able to govern effectively. During the campaign he promised to insulate Slovenia from the sovereign debt crisis within the eurozone, of which Slovenia is a member, and pledged to reform healthcare and pensions. The Slovenian parliament consists of 90 members meaning that either Janković or Janša will need to find a total of 46 seats in order to secure a majority, meaning an extra 18 and 20 seats respectively.
Slovenia has been hit hard by the economic crisis in the eurozone and the latest figures show a contraction in GDP of 0.5%, indicating the real prospect of another foray into recession. Slovenian public debt has more than doubled in the last four years and the country plans to raise a further one billion euros in an auction today despite its credit rating being downgraded to AA- status.
Slovenia – Who Governs Europe?
This page will feature analysis of the latest developments in Slovenian elections. The next parliamentary election is due to take place before September 2012 and there will be presidential elections taking place in October 2012.
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Who Governs Europe? 