The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, has been defeated in Sunday's parliamentary elections in front of the Freedom Movement, a new liberal and environmental formation that has taken advantage of the growing discontent with the current ruler.
Jansa's Democratic Party (SDS), a right-wing nationalist, has won just over 24 percent of the vote, against a Freedom Movement that is around 34 percent. Robert Golob's party will have about 40 seats, eleven more than the SDS, according to official scrutiny with nearly 90 percent of the votes counted.
“People want change,” said Golob, a 55-year-old former business manager, in his first speech. “Today we dance, but tomorrow begins a new day. Tomorrow we will start working hard,” he said, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
The leader of the Freedom Movement has also said that the first talks about the coalition would take place in the coming days and that the SDS — with 27 seats — and the New Slovenia party (NSi) — with eight seats — are not on the list of those they intend to meet shortly.
For her part, Jansa congratulated Golob on the results and lamented that “not all parties that worked with the coalition in one way or another came together”. Despite this, he said that “the result gives an image of great participation, which we welcome”, according to the newspaper 'Delo'.
He also pointed out that they have equaled “the best result of the party in history” and have “significantly” increased the number of electoral votes. “Thank you to everyone who worked hard for these results,” he said in a speech after the results, according to a message on his official Twitter profile.
The National Assembly has a total of 90 seats, so the threshold of absolute majority stands at 46. Golob has an easy time reaching this figure and, in principle, he should have no problem joining one or two smaller parties.
If the forecasts are met, the current prime minister will be forced to leave the position he has held since 2020 and which he also held on two other occasions, between 2004 and 2008 and between 2012 and 2013.
(With information from Europa Press)
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