Page 23 - SE Outlook Regions 2022

and that a prime minister-designate will be put forward by the
participating party which has won the most votes. Levica described
Jansa’s government as destructive and anti-democratic, and accused it
of pursuing far-right policies.

Jansa came to power in March 2020 after the resignation of Marjan
Sarec at the end of January 2020. The government consisted of the
SDS, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and the
Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS), but DeSUS left the coalition in December
2020 due to disagreements with Jansa.

Ahead of new elections in 2022, support for Slovenia’s minority
government has been falling. The most recent public opinion poll
conducted by Mediana Institute showed that only 16.3% of respondents
would support the SDS, while 59.7% of them rate the work of the
government negatively.

Under Jansa, Ljubljana has frequently been in conflict with EU
institutions, which came under the spotlight during Slovenia's six-month
EU Council presidency in the second half of 2021. Recently, Slovenia
has been criticised by EU officials for the delay in appointing two
European delegated prosecutors (EDPs) and for cutting funding for
news agency STA. The two EDPs were finally appointed by the
European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) on November 24.

Jansa’s government cut off funding for STA at the end of 2020, after the
prime minister accused it of unfair reporting. STA is supposed to
receive funds for its public service activities. The European Commission
has repeatedly expressed serious concerns about this issue.

The finances were restored in November 2021, when the new acting
director of STA Igor Kadunc and the head of the Government
Communication Office (UKOM) Uros Urbanija signed a deal on the
provision of STA's public service, valid until the end of 2021.

During 2021, protests against anti-COVID-19 measures imposed by the
government were frequent in Slovenia.

The government has been tightening measures and is trying to get
more people vaccinated to prevent the spread of the pandemic after it
faced a severe fourth wave of COVID-19 epidemic in October and
November 2021 that peaked at over 4,000 daily cases on November
17.

Following the spring general election, Slovenia will hold presidential
and local elections in the autumn.

Presidential elections are due in October 2022. The incumbent Pahor is
ineligible to run as he has served two five-year terms.

Local elections have a fixed date on the third Sunday of November. The
local elections rarely reflect political realities at the national level as
many candidates in the country’s 212 municipalities are elected from
local lists without a firm party affiliation, or from smaller parties that are
not represented in parliament. In the last election, the People's Party

23 SE Outlook 2022 www.intellinews.com