The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Marjan Šarec, resigned on Monday and called for an early election, saying his minority government could not push through important legislation.
Following several internal conflicts in the ruling five-member coalition, Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec resigned on Monday and called for an early election, saying his minority government was finding it difficult to get bills through parliament.
“With this coalition, this situation in parliament, I cannot fulfil the expectations of the people,” Šarec told a gathering of news reporters in the country. “I will be able to fulfil them after an election,” he stated.
The Outlook
Prior to his resignation, Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj resigned in protest of the new legislation proposed by Sarec’s government, under which the national budget would cover possible losses of the country’s health system.
The governing coalition of five centre-left parties, known as the Social Democrats, took power in September 2018 and only hold 43 out of 90 seats in parliament. In November of the same year, it lost the informal support of the opposition, the Left Party, and has since found it increasingly difficult to get legislation passed through parliament of Slovenia.
What’s Next?
The Speaker of the Parliament, Dejan Zidan, has said an election could be held in the second half of April. It would be Slovenia’s fourth early election in a row.
What is likely to happen next is that the opposition, SDS, which has 26 seats will attempt to form a new government with the conservative New Slovenia party (NSI), which has seven seats, the centre-left Party of Modern Centre which has 10 seats and some other parties but, will they succeed?
Political Analyst, Meta Roglic told Reuters: “What could work in their favour is that parliamentary members might be reluctant to go to the election more than two years before their mandate expires.”
According to Slovenian legislation, a new Prime Minister candidate can be nominated by President Borut Pahor. He is then formally elected by a simple majority of the National Assembly. Despite the current situation, PM Marec remains popular as he is leading in recent polls.
