Page 14 - bne_newspaper_May_25_2018

Southeast Europe
May 25, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Jansa on the verge of
a comeback in Slovenia
bne IntelliNews
The largest opposition party in Slovenia, the Slo- venian Democratic Party (SDS), has been leading polls ahead of the country’s June 3 parliamentary elections.
The party led by controversial former prime min- ister Janez Jansa has been the loudest opposition to outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar’s govern- ment, trying to dismiss no less than six ministers within a year as well as initiating numerous no- confidence votes, albeit without success.
A poll conducted by the agency Episcentar indi- cates the SDS will win over 25% of the vote — es- timates range from the pollster’s “realistic” 25.6% and to an “optimistic” 28.3%. This would make it the largest party in the parliament though it would need to form a coalition to achieve a majority.
This is despite Jansa’s chequered past. He was in- volved in one of the country’s largest scandals, the so- called Patria case, and charged with receiving bribes in connection with a deal with Finnish defence company Patria, though the charges were eventually dropped after the time limit for unfinished cases expired. Jansa was Slovenia’s prime minister from 2004 until 2008 and again in 2012 to February 2013, when he was dis- missed in a no-confidence vote as the ruling coali- tion unravelled amid the growing Patria scandal.
Even with the scandal hanging over him, Jansa’s party has consistently performed well in the polls in recent years. Miran Videtic, director at Slo- venian Kamnik based management consulting company VI-PU, pointed out that being the winner of polls hasn’t meant Jansa going on to win elec- tions. “But, this year it may easily happen mainly
Jansa addresses his party's 2018 convention.
thanks to broken leftists ... These elections are a game changer in Slovenia exactly because of the open question of who would be Jansa’s coalition partner. I believe it can be anyone except the Left Party (Levica) itself,” Vidatic told bne Intellinews.
The poll indicates that Slovenians actually wanted to see a new face on their political scene, as the newly formed List of Marjan Sarec has been placed third. Sarec, a former comic and journalist who has been mayor of the small town of Kamnik since 2010, made it to the second round of the 2017 presidential elections. Slovenian incumbent Borut Pahor — also known as “Barbie” because of his former career as a model — only narrowly defeated him on November 12.
Currently, his list would gain the support of 14.7% of voters under the realistic scenario and a maxi- mum of 23% under the optimistic scenario, accord- ing to Episcentar’s poll. This would make him a potential partner in government with Jansa, should the result on June 3 be in line with recent polls.
Meanwhile, Cerar’s SMC seems set to barely make it into the next parliament. Its share of the vote could be anywhere from 5.6% — just past the threshold to enter the assembly — to as high as 13.2%. During Cerar’s mandate the country’s economy emerged from contractions in 2012 and 2013, reaching 5% growth in 2017. However, Cerar stepped down after a court ruled that his government had broken cam- paign rules ahead of the 2017 referendum on the expansion of the Koper-Divaca railway.
“I am not surprised!” Videtic commented on the fall in Cerar’s popularity. “Cerar’s mandate was a four-year period of lost opportunities.”