The winner of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Slovenia was the ruling center-left liberal Freedom Movement (GS) of Prime Minister Robert Golob with 28.6 percent of the vote. However, it lost its parliamentary majority together with its left-wing coalition partners. In second place came the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of Prime Minister Janez Janša, which received 28.1 percent of the vote. The DPA and AFP agencies reported on it.
- Robert Golob’s ruling Freedom Movement won the election with 28.6 percent of the vote.
- Golob’s movement won 29 deputies, Janez Janša’s SDS will occupy 28 seats.
- Neither the left-wing nor the right-wing bloc won a majority of the 46 parliamentary seats.
- Golob’s government legalized the marriage of gay couples and called Israel’s operation a genocide.
- The authorities are investigating the suspicion that the Israeli firm Black Cube manipulated the campaign against Golob.
According to the state election commission, Golob’s movement will have 29 deputies in the 90-member parliament, SDS will have one less. This indicates a difficult process of forming the government, as neither the left nor the right bloc has a majority of 46 seats.
Golob has ruled for the past four years in a coalition with the Social Democrats (SD) and the Left Party (Levica), which won 6.7 percent of the vote and six seats, and 5.6 percent of the vote and five seats, respectively. Janš’s traditional coalition partner, the conservative party New Slovenia (NSi), won 9.3 percent of the vote and nine seats.
Nevertheless, 59-year-old Golob declared himself the winner of the election. According to him, the voters gave their vote “to democracy, not only to the Freedom Movement”, he said on Sunday evening at the headquarters of GS in the capital city of Ljubljana. He promised to ensure “a better future for all” during his next term.
Janša indicated that he intends to challenge the close election result. “We will count every vote from every polling station,” he was quoted by the STA agency. A close election result was expected. Although SDS had long led in the opinion polls, the liberals were catching up.
Golob is a newcomer to politics. During his tenure, same-sex marriages were legalized in Slovenia. His government was also one of the few in the EU to call the Israeli army’s operation in the Gaza Strip a genocide. Golob declared in the polling station that “Slovenia’s democracy and sovereignty can no longer be taken for granted.”
Janša has been prime minister for three terms since 2004, but he was clearly defeated by Golob’s GS in the 2022 elections. He supports US President Donald Trump and is an ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
During the election campaign, 67-year-old Janša accused the government of wasting money. He also called the election a “referendum on corruption”. In addition, he announced that he wants to restore “Slovenian values” such as the “traditional family” and limit state funding of some NGOs.
The election campaign was overshadowed by accusations of attempted interference from abroad. Authorities are investigating whether the Israeli company Black Cube, founded in 2010 by former Israeli intelligence officers, is behind the videos that portray Golob’s government as corrupt. Janša admitted that he met with a representative of Black Cube, but denied any connection with the publication of the videos.
