Page 50 - bne_Magazine_September_2018

50 I Southeast Europe bne September 2018
Political newcomer Marjan Sarec, who benefitted from a disillusioned Slovenian electorate, edges closer to realising his dream of becoming prime minister.
the option to change the political direc- tion of the country by switching from the LMS to the SDS.
Miran Videtic, director at VI-PU, a man- agement consulting company based in Kamnik, the small town where Sarec
is mayor, believes this is still possible. Even though all three claim they don’t want to be in coalition with Jansa, a decision to put their political differ- ences with the SDS aside and opt for
a more stable government cannot be ruled out.
“As well-experienced politicians, it's up to them now to show their commitment to the state and step up with a sustain- able solution. Because, a government of five, eventually four, supported by an additional one, eventually an addi- tional two parties is not a guarantor of stability. They know how serious and tough job leading a government is, and shouldn’t let something like this hap- pen,” Videtic told bne IntelliNews.
He believes that they can restart talks with the conservative New Slovenian (NSi) which could be a bridge with the SDS.
“Jansa can nominate another per-
son from his party as PM. This way, Slovenia would have a way more stable government and not a minority one with [only] promised support in parlia- ment,” Videtic added.
Since Sarec’s party still doesn’t have
a programme, it is hard to define his political orientation. When it comes to his partners, they are a mix of centrists and leftists. Cerar’s SMC and SAB are both centrist, while SD and DeSUS
are on the left.
number of votes, 12.6% of the total.
While this is only half the 25% taken
by Janez Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), Jansa hasn’t managed to gain the support of enough MPs from outside the SDS to form a government, which gave room for Sarec to pursue his ambition to become prime minister.
Whether he achieves it will depend on Levica, which has seven MPs. The party completed an internal referendum on August 8, but still looks indecisive and reportedly keeps asking for new condi- tions. One of its MPs, Franc Trcek, has announced on his Facebook page that he will not vote for Sarec’s government.
The other potential obstacle on Sarec’s path toward the PM post is the coalition agreement between the five parties that no one outside has seen. The Slovenian public speculates that even Sarec him- self doesn’t know its full contents, since negotiations have been lasting more than two months, during which he
has been changing stances constantly. For example, he initially stated that he would never accept a nomination
if he didn’t have the support of at least 46 MPs, but he has been nominated by only 43.
One of the LMS’s partners now appears
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to be wavering. The unclear coalition agreement is understood to have been behind the Party of Alenka Bratusek’s (SAB’s) position that, as reported by local media, it will only decide on being part of Sarec’s minority government after a protocol with Levica is harmon- ised, the partnership agreement is finalised and ministerial appointments decided.
Without the SAB, Sarec can count only on the support of the parties that ran the previous government – the Social Demo- crats (SD) led by outgoing Minister of Agriculture Dejan Zidan, outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar’s Party of Modern Centre (SMC) and the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS).
Even though the three parties barely obtained 25% of the votes together, they play a key role as they still have
“The political novice unexpectedly forced incumbent Borut Pahor to a second round in the October 22 presidential elections”