Robert Golob, a liberal candidate new to politics, came out on top in the Slovenian legislative elections on Sunday April 24, according to an exit poll, far ahead of the controversial Prime Minister, Janez Jansa.
Mr. Golob’s movement, Freedom (GS), is credited with 35.8% of the vote, against 22.5% for the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of Janez Jansa, 63, according to figures published in the closure of polling stations by the private channel Pop TV.
Robert Golob, a 55-year-old ex-entrepreneur in solar energy, was given neck and neck this week, even with a slight lead, but no estimate had predicted such a gap between the two candidates.
“It’s a bit of a surprise”reacted to the press the vice-president of GS, Urska Klakocar Zupancic, welcoming a victory for ” democracy “. In the opposing camp, the Minister of the Interior, Ales Hojs, said he preferred to wait “the official tally of results”.
Government action challenged
Voters flocked to the polls throughout the day to elect, during this one-round ballot, their deputies in this country of 2 million inhabitants, against the backdrop of a revolt by civil society against government action. challenged for months by demonstrations.
“These are the most important elections since independence” in 1991 of this nation from the former Yugoslavia, assured Jansa Jenull, one of the leaders of the protest movement.
At 4 p.m., the turnout was 49.3%, almost 15 points more than in 2018 at the same time (34.4%), according to the electoral commission. Advance polls must be added to these ballots.
The government “carried out repeated attacks on the rule of law and democratic institutions”notes the American NGO Freedom House in its annual report published this week, citing ” the attacks “ against the judiciary and the media.
Assumed admirer of former US President Donald Trump and ally of the Hungarian ultra-conservative Viktor Orban, Janez Jansa deprived the national news agency STA for months of public funds, deemed too critical. Faced with warnings from the European Commission, he crushed “overpaid bureaucrats”multiplying the passes of arms with Brussels while ignoring the revolt of the street.
Getting back to “normality”
Interviewed by Agence France-Presse, Uros Esih, political commentator for the major daily Delosees in this election “a struggle between liberal and illiberal forces”.
“Previously seen as a model in Eastern Europe”the small alpine country has become “one of the biggest troublemakers, with restricted freedoms”according to analyst Valdo Miheljak.
Mr. Golob, isolated due to contamination with Covid-19, promised for his part to reconnect with the “normality”. In addition to the 26 seats which he feels are assured, he can count on the support of several centre-left parties to secure a majority in the 90-seat Parliament.
If the results are confirmed, it would be a heavy defeat for Janez Jansa. By voting Sunday morning, yellow and blue tie in the colors of Ukraine, he had expressed his wish “to continue on the path” borrowed since March 2020, the date of his return to government after two terms in the past.
If, in neighboring Hungary, the recent legislative campaign was dominated by the war in Ukraine, it did not influence the debates in Slovenia, where the various parties all agree on support for kyiv.
Janez Jansa, fiercely anti-Russian, went there in mid-March with his Polish and Czech counterparts, the first visit of foreign leaders to the besieged Ukrainian capital.