Skip to main content

Slovenia starts a new round of coalition formation with conservative Jansa

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAY 6 - Slovenia's President Nataša Pirc Musar did not appoint a government candidate after the first round of consultations. The second round of elections started today to find a government candidate based on electoral preferences from the March 22nd polls. Parliamentary groups, or at least ten MPs, will now be able to nominate candidates by May 19th, the deadline for the new phase. Pirc Musar stated from the beginning that there would be no minority government; the mandate would be awarded only to those who could secure 46 of the 90 total seats. The centre-left Freedom Movement (GS), led by outgoing Prime Minister Robert Golob, narrowly won the March 22 elections. However, he has not found allies for a majority, opening the door for a likely alternative, conservative-leaning majority, possibly around former (three-time) right-wing Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). Janša's fourth government will likely be formed by a coalition of SDS, New Slovenia, Democrats, and anti-establishment Resni.ca, who have already agreed on 20 programmatic points. Resni.ca is expected to provide the decisive votes for a majority, having also announced yesterday that it will not participate in the coalition, despite not considering itself an external partner or a supra-coalition. Resni.ca, led by Zoran Stevanović, elected Speaker of Parliament with the same number of votes expected to form the next government, has stated that they will support a candidate with widespread support. The SDS has stated unequivocally that it does not intend to conduct additional consultations as required by the constitution. As a result, if no agreement is reached on a new prime ministerial candidate, fresh elections will be held. (ANSA).