Deadline passes for nomination of new Slovenian PM following divisive election results
The deadline for Slovenian President Borut Pahor to nominate the country’s next prime minister will pass today.
Elections last month left Slovenia’s parliament highly fragmented, with the anti-immigrant Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) leading the vote, but falling well short of a majority with just 25 of the country’s 90 seats in parliament. While the president originally nominated SDS leader Janez Jansa for the prime ministership, most parties have refused a coalition with the populist party.
Slovenia’s parliament will now have 14 days to propose a candidate to lead the country’s next government. While Jansa will likely continue his push for a coalition, another possibility is a six-party medley lead by the centre-left List of Marjan Sarec party. With the proposed coalition consisting of parties across the political spectrum, however, such a government could quickly find itself hamstrung, making fresh elections a possibility.
Of course, if no coalition is formed in the next two weeks, Slovenians will need to head to the polls anyway later this year. But with parliament so fragmented and Slovenian politics currently highly divisive, there is no guarantee another election will resolve the deadlock.
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