Slovenia.

[TsarSamuil]

Ljubljana mayor's party tops in Slovenia's parliamentary elections: exit poll.

LJUBLJANA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Positive Slovenia, a new political party led by Zoran Jankovic, won the parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to an exit poll.

Jankovic, an influential businessman in Slovenia, has been the mayor of Ljubljana since October 2006.

Jankovic's party, with the full name of Zoran Jankovuc's List, P|ositive Slovenia, won 29.1 percent of the vote and 28 seats in the 90-member legislature, while the Slovenian Democrats (SDS) of opposition leader Janez Jansa got 26.5 percent and 26 seats, according to the Mediana exit poll run by television stations TV Slovenija and POP TV.

Janez Jansa was Slovenian prime minister between 2004 and 2008.

Outgoing prime minister Borut Pahor's party, the Social Democrats (SD), is at 10.8 percent and 10 seats.

Some 829,400 Slovenian citizens, or 48.5 percent of the registered voters cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections by 4 p.m. local time (GMT 1500) on Sunday, according to the National Electoral Commission.

Beginning from 7 a.m. in the morning, voters, including many elderly people or people riding in wheelchair, were seen flocking to polling stations.

"They are voting for change in the country," a member of staff at the polling station told Xinhua.

In preparation for the general elections, the National Electoral Commission set up 3,382 polling stations throughout the country. In addition, 86 others were available for those voting outside their place of residence.

Seventeen political parties in Slovenia and the two constitutionally recognised minorities, the communities of Hungarian and Italian, in the country, participated in the general elections.

Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk dissolved the country's parliament on Oct. 21 after the government of Prime Minister Borut Pahor was ousted in a failed confidence vote on Sept. 20, and there were no proposals for new prime minister-designate from parliament.

Pahor and his cabinet was normally thought to rule until September 2012. Pahor is the third prime minister to be forced to step down due to the failure in a vote of confidencesince since Slovenian declared independence from the former Jugoslavia in 1991.

-------------

Janković Launches Coalition Talks.

06 Dec / By STA

Zoran Janković, the presumptive winner of Sunday's general election, started coalition talks with Social Democrat (SD) president Borut Pahor.

The meeting with Pahor was "a preliminary discussion" and the pair will meet again, Natasa Pelko, the spokeswoman for Jankovic's Positive Slovenia, told the STA.

Pelko said Jankovic would talk to all parties that have made it to parliament, including the Democrats (SDS).

Jankovic had previously said in explicit terms that a coalition with SDS leader Janez Jansa was out of the question due to unbridgeable differences in programmes.

Pahor's SocDems are seen as a natural fit for the leftist Positive Slovenia, but the two parties do not have enough seats to form a coalition themselves.

Their most likely partners are either the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), the Gregor Virant List or the People's Party (SLS), or any combination of the three.

Jankovic will have to wait at least until the end of December before the president of the republic can entrust him with forming a government.

The new parliament will probably be inaugurated on 24 December, whereupon President Danilo Tuerk can start formal consultations with deputy groups on the prime minister-designate.

[TsarSamuil]

Former Slovenian premier nominated as new PM-designate.

LJUBLJANA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa was nominated by a five-party coalition on Wednesday as new prime minister-designate after his predecessor Zoran Jankovic failed to get parliament's approval two weeks ago.

Jansa, 53, needs to win an absolute majority of 46 votes in the 90-strong National Assembly before the nomination turns to be effective.

The parliamentary vote is due to be held on Saturday.

The newly formed five-party coalition, featuring the Slovenian Democrates, the Virant List, the People's Party, the Pensioners' Party and New Slovenia, is expected to form a centre-right government to replace the outgoing Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his cabinet.

Jansa, president of the Slovenian Democrates, served as prime minister from 2004 to 2008. His party, founded in 1989, secured 26.3 percent of the vote in the December 4 parliamentary elections, ranking immediately after Jankovic's Positive Slovenia that took the first position in the general elections.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenia Won't Seek Bailout in Coming Year - FinMin.

Novinite.com
World | July 5, 2012, Thursday| 101 views

Slovenia will not apply for an international bailout for at least a year and most probably not thereafter, according to the country's Finance Minister, Janez Sustersic.

The government has now boosted the capital of Slovenia's largest bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, and enforced budget cuts.

Sustersic has declared that the government is determined to keep Slovenia's public debt at around 50 percent of gross domestic product, below the European Union's official limit of 60 percent.

"Our debt will certainly not rise above 60 percent of GDP ... there is no danger that Slovenia would not be able to pay its financial obligations," he has told Reuters.

Economists had predicted that Slovenia may become the sixth Eurozone state to seek an international bailout.

On June 27, PM Janez Jansa warned that Slovenia risked a "Greek scenario." Two days later, he declared that his government was "doing everything to find a solution" and avoid the need for assistance.

Cyprus and Spain applied for financial assistance last Monday. Greece, Ireland and Portugal and were also forced to seek financial aid after their borrowing costs surged.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenian PM voices support for private ownership of banks.

English.news.cn 2012-07-18 08:01:39

LJUBLJANA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa on Tuesday called for private ownership of banks in the country, saying that keeping banks in state ownership would only lead to new recapitalizations.

State-owned banks were a crucial part of the problems of the banking sector, Jansa told reporters after an extraordinary session of the National Assembly.

Noting that banks with private owners are doing significantly better, the prime minister said the state should lower its share to at least 25 perecent once the bank's balance sheets are cleaned.

Jansa made the remarks after he rejected allegations in late June that the government had planned to sell Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), the biggest state-owned bank in Slovenia which controls one third of the country's banking assets.

"Until the actual situation in the bank becomes clear, nobody can attempt this," he said at the time.

Slovenian Finance Minister Janez Sustersic said last week that the NLB has 1.5 billion euros (about 1.84 billion U.S. dollars) in the so-called "red category" loans, which would probably never be repaid.

Under the government's plan, the financial minister said, state-owned banks, including NLB, will transfer their bad loans to the planned Slovenian Sovereign Holding, a super-custodian of all state assets.

The holding would then recover the loans or invoke insurances, which will minimize losses and enable the NLB to focus on its core businesses and attract investors, Sustersic said.

With the approval of the European Commission, Slovenia injected 382.9 million euros into the NLB at the beginning of July to improve its Core Tier 1 ratio from just below six percent to nine percent that is in line with the requirements from the European Banking Authority (EBA) and Slovenia's central bank.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenia voices regret over Moody's downgrade.

English.news.cn 2012-08-04 01:36:45

LJUBLJANA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia voiced on Friday its regret over the downgrade by Moody's rating agency of Slovenia's government bond rating from A2 to Baa2, which is just two notches above junk.

Slovenia is disappointed by Moody's failure to take into account its measures consolidating public finances and the political consensus on the golden fiscal rule and the management of bank claims, the finance ministry said in a press release.

In response to Moody's concerns about Slovenia's troubled banks and rising borrowing costs, the ministry said that macroeconomic data did not allow a comparison of Slovenia with Spain, Italy or Greece, which are all in serious financial crisis.

The problems of Slovenia's banking sector were not as serious as those of Spain, the ministry said.

"The Slovenian government has adopted a number of measures for the consolidation of public finances, and the act on the balancing of public finances and the supplementary budget for this year were vital steps towards balancing public finances this year as well in the mid-term," the ministry said.

Stressing its efforts to secure a stable banking and financial system, the ministry also reiterated that Slovenia did not need at present to request aid from European mechanisms to fix banking problems.

Slovenia was not exposed to refinancing risks, and funds available allow the budget for this year to be executed smoothly even in the event of tougher conditions on financial markets, the ministry insisted.

Citing Slovenia's three major banks which are likely to require capital support in the range of 2 percent to 8 percent of GDP, Moody's claimed that "the deteriorating macroeconomic environment" in the country "opens the possibility that external assistance may be required."

Unofficial sources said recently that Slovenia would need to borrow some 1.3 billion euros (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in November.

NLB, the biggest state-owned bank in Slovenia, has 1.5 billion euros in so-called "red category" loans, which will probably never be repaid, Slovenian Finance Minister Janez Sustersic said in July.

Bad loans at Slovenian banks increased in April to more than 6 billion euros, putting more pressure on the fragile banking industry. (1 euro = 1.23 U.S. dollars)

[TsarSamuil]

Türk Collects Enough Voter Signatures to Stand.

Politics, 31 Aug 2012 / By STA

Slovenia's incumbent President Danilo Türk has collected a sufficient number of voter signatures to formally file his candidacy for the 11 November presidential election, according to his campaign headquarters.

To run with the support of voters, candidates need to collect at least 5,000 signatures in support of their bid.

Alternatively, candidates may also be put forward by ten MPs or by political parties, in which case the candidacy needs to be backed by at least three MPs or 3,000 voters.

An intention to stand has so far been announced by 13 hopefuls. Apart from the incumbent president, the most serious contenders are former Prime Minister Borut Pahor and MEP Milan Zver.

Zver will run on behalf of the ruling Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi), while Pahor will stand for the Social Democrats (SD), but he is also collecting signatures from voters.

Türk already stood as an independent with the support of voters in the 2007 presidential election, while he was also endorsed by the SD, Zares and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

This time he enjoys the backing of the opposition Positive Slovenia (PS).

He is heading public opinion polls, ahead of Pahor and Zver.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenia Embraces for Presidential Election on Sunday.

BELGRADE, November 11 (RIA Novosti) - Slovenia, an economically troubled European Union member state, is holding a presidential election on Sunday with voters to decide among three candidates running in the race.

The post of the head of the country, with a population of two million people, is contested by incumbent President Danilo Turk, former center-left Prime Minister Borut Pahor and center-right ruling coalition candidate Milan Zver.

According to pre-election polls, President Turk is the most likely candidate to win the election with 44 percent of the vote, while his closest contender Pahor was predicted to gain over 30 percent.

The winner of the election must gain over 50 percent of the votes and in case none of them pass the required threshold a second round of the election is announced with two top candidates from the previous round.

Slovenia, one of the 17-country group that uses euro as its currency, is facing one of the worst recessions and is in danger of needing a bailout.


Slovenian Presidential candidates Borut Pahor, Danilo Turk and Milan Zver

[TsarSamuil]

So, the choice is between a Turk and a homosexual former male photo-model...

-------------

Slovenian presidential elections go to runoff.

B92
Region | November 12, 2012 | 11:18

LJUBLJANA -- Former Prime Minister Borut Pahor and President Danilo Turk have won the most votes in Slovenia's presidential elections held on Sunday.

Pahor received 41.9 percent of the vote, followed by Turk with 37.2 percent.

Milan Zver placed third and will not take part in the runoff, scheduled to take place on December 2.

Some sources are predicting that Pahor will be the overall winner "even more convincingly".

Slovenia's Election Commission said that since the first presidential elections, held in 1992, the turnout has been steadily decreasing. On Sunday in stood at only 47 percent.

[TsarSamuil]

Vid & pics,
rt.com/news/slovenia-clashes-corrupr-parliament-015/

Slovenian police use tear gas after protesters attempt to enter parliament (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

RT.com
1 December, 2012, 00:29

Tear gas and water cannon has been deployed against angry demonstrators as they tried to storm the parliament premises in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. Thousands flooded the streets demanding the “corrupt” government resign.

Police arrested several protesters as they tried to disperse the crowd.Some of the demonstrators were said to be throwing rocks, bottles and firecrackers at them, AP reports.

People were carrying banners that read "You are finished" and "thieves," as a crowd of about 8,000 gathered to voice their anger about with government cost-cutting measures and other reforms designed to avoid an international bailout in the cash-strapped EU nation.

The latest unrest follows a massive march on Friday when thousands protested against Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Cabinet, accusing them of corruption and fraud and demanding their resignations. The actions come ahead of this weekends presidential election.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenians vote in presidential runoff.

B92
Region | December 2, 2012 | 13:12

LJUBLJANA -- Polls opened in Slovenia on Sunday morning in the second round of the presidential election.

The citizens will choose between former PM Borut Pahor and current President Danilo Turk.

According to the latest opinion polls, Pahor has support of 55 and Turk of 24 percent of the citizens.

For the first time in Slovenia’s history both candidates belong to the left wing.

Slovenians have been protesting against all political options and politicians in the past several days. Protests turned violent in Ljubljana on Friday when protesters clashed with police. Two dozen people were injured and 30 were arrested.

1,700,000 Slovenians are eligible to vote in the presidential runoff election.

Unofficial results of the vote will be known late on Sunday and citizens have announced they will hold new protests in Maribor on Monday.

[TsarSamuil]

Pahor wins Slovenian presidential run-off.

English.news.cn 2012-12-03 05:40:56
By Xinhua writer Zhao Yi

LJUBLJANA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua)-- Former Slovenian prime minister Borut Pahor, who won a landslide victory in the 2012 presidential election run-off on Sunday, called for joint effort to help Slovenia bridge over difficulties and crisis.

This is "only the beginning, the beginning of something new, a new hope, a new period, " he told reporters soon after he was unofficially announced winner of the presidential run-off.

"We need trust, mutual respect, tolerance, readiness to listen. And irrespective of how big the differences among us may be, the things that connect us are even stronger."

Pahor won 67 percent of votes, while incumbent President Danilo Turk, who seeks second term, got 33 percent, unofficial and incomplete results showed.

While Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa congratulated his predecessor Pahor on winning the presidential run-off, incumbent Presdient Danilo Turk, who sought for the second term in office, has conceded defeat in the runoff, and congratulated Pahor, Slovenian Press Agency reported.

The outgoing president said he would remain an "active citizen" after his term officially ends in three weeks.

The latest presidential elections in Slovenia, the fifth of its kind since the former republic of Yugoslavia declared independence in 1991, kicked off three weeks ago.

The run-off election took place as there was no candidate winning an outright majority in the first round.

Slovenia's president, with a five-year term, is largely a ceremonial post. However, as head of state, he is custodian of the national constitution and the supreme commander of the country's armed forces.

Pahor, 49, was prime minister between November 2008 and February 2012. His cabinet failed in September 2011 to pass confidence vote in the National Assembly due to its failure to deal with worsening political and economic crisis.

Pahor's setbacks prompted a snap parliamentary vote last December. He was succeeded by Jansa in February 2012.

During his latest presidential campaign, Pahor promised to do his best to restore confidence among politicians and people, and to seek political consensus to tackle the crisis in Slovenia.

On foreign affairs, he advocated to give first priority to the maintenance of good relations with all of its neighboring countries, because the most trade is done with these countries and most investment comes from them.

He suggested Slovenia play more political influence in the Western Balkans, strengthen strategic partnerships with EU countries, and enhance its political and economic cooperation with main global powers.

He also stood for Slovenia's involvement in international peacekeeping missions organized by international organizations, especially the NATO.

Pahor's bid for the presidency of Slovenia has been supported by Jansa and Parliament Speaker Gregor Virant.

Slovenia needs a new president who should be more unifying, Jansa told reporters as he cast his vote in the run-off of presidential election.

Virant voiced his support for Pahor publicly, noting that cooperation between state president and parliamentary speaker was very important.

Slovenia, with two million people, prepared some 3,300 polling stations for 1.7 million eligible voters across the country to cast votes.

However, the turnout of Sunday's elections was reportedly 31 percent, which was the lowest on record.

Such a low turnout could be attributed partially to poor weather, with snow and rain sweeping across the country.

But anti-government demonstrations and protests that turned bloody violent in the past few days have apparently remarkable negative impact on enthusiasm about the presidential election, local analysts said.

More than a dozen of police officers injured and about 60 protesters were detained when 10,000-strong protests against social unfairness and official corruption broke out in Ljubljana and Maribor, the second largest city in the country, last week.

The successive anti-government demonstrations were believed to be the worst social turmoil ever since the founding of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenia: Three arrested "for organizing riots"

Tanjug
Region | December 3, 2012 | 14:52

LJUBLJANA -- The Slovenian police have arrested three people on suspicion that they organized riots during the protests in Ljubljana on Friday.

All of them have previous criminal records, according to reports.

STA news agency reported that the police said they would "do everything to prove their criminal offenses and bring them to justice".

The statement added that the suspects, who were arrested on Sunday, would be brought before an investigative judge within 48 hours.

Head of the Ljubljana Police Stanislav Veniger revealed that the violence during the protests was organized by several dozen people, "who were joined by hundreds of hooligans", adding that the police investigation was still ongoing.

The demonstrations in Ljubljana on Friday gathered some 10,000 people, who protested against Slovenian elites and expressed their discontent with the social and economic situation in the country. But the peaceful protest turned violent, with the unrest lasting late into the night.

Dozens were injured, including 11 policemen, while more than 30 protesters were detained, and then released on Saturday.

For the first time in Slovenia's two-decade history as a state, its police on Friday used water cannons to disperse rioters. New protests were announced for Monday in the towns of Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Ptuj and Ravne na Koroškem.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenia may ask for int'l bailout next year: minister.

English.news.cn 2012-12-09 01:09:57

LJUBLJANA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia will sell state's shares in banks and companies in the first half of 2013 before it is forced to ask for international aid next year, the country's finance minister said on Saturday.

The Slovenian government is considering serveral options to solve the problem of bad loans, Finance Minister Janez Sustersic was quoted as saying.

The options include the sale of leading telecommunications operator Telekom Slovenije; Zavarovalnica Triglav, a traditional insurance company that holds one third of market in Slovenia; and major national energy company Petrol, according to the minister.

"I hope we'll solve the situation in the banks fast enough to avoid a bailout. If not, we would have to ask for help which could happen in the middle of the next year," Sustersic added.

Sustersic's latest remarks are apparently different from what he said in Brussels in July when he rejected the suggestion that Slovenia might need outside help financial aid from the European Union.

He said that Slovenia would not need to borrow some 1.3 billion euros in November, although it was in financial difficulties, noting that the figure was "either a mistake or a misinterpretation."

However, Sustersic confirmed in July that a due diligence at Slovenia's largest bank NLB has revealed 1.5 billion euros in loans of the lowest quality, which means the state-owned bank would need a recapitalization of up to 500 million euros by the end of 2013.

[TsarSamuil]

US Ambassador Interfering Too Much?

Politics, 18 Jan 2013 / By STA

The US Embassy responded to an allegation of interference in internal affairs on Friday by explaining that Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli fields requests for media statements almost daily, often about domestic affairs, and that he had been consistent in his view about the need to push on with reforms in Slovenia.

The ambassador "has been consistent in his view that Slovenians should not become distracted from the issues that most affect them - such as urging leaders to make their first priority to continue to implement much needed reforms," the embassy's public affairs officer, Christopher Wurst, said.

"If some are distressed by our concern for the Slovenian people, then so be it," the official said in a written statement in response to a request for comment on an open letter in which the Club of Slovenian Ambassadors accused Mussomeli of meddling in Slovenia's internal affairs and "disrespecting the dignity of patriotic Slovenians".

"It does not matter which political bloc in Slovenia you hold dearer, you have no authority for your political activism," Peter Toš, the chairman of the club that brings together former Slovenian ambassadors, said in the letter, which was made public on Thursday.

Mussomeli had in the past few days commented on the current political crisis in the country, cautioning against early elections and speaking in favour of solutions that would push reforms forward.

Former President Danilo Türk had publicly berated Mussomeli for his comments on a government coalition following the early election in December 2011.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovenian police use tear gas to disperse protesters.

Beta, Tanjug
Region | February 9, 2013 | 13:25

LJUBLJANA -- Slovenian police used tear gas during clashes with anti-government protesters in downtown Ljubljana on Friday evening.

More than 20,000 protesters called for resignation of the country’s top politicians.

The protesting Slovenians denied Prime Minister Janez Janša’s allegations that the rally had been organized by left-wing elite that wanted to topple his government. They called on Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković and MPs to step down.

Around 12,000 citizens rallied in Ljubljana earlier on Friday to support the prime minister and his government. The rally was peaceful and Janša thanked the participants “for coming and showing they care about their homeland”.

He stressed that they should stand up to the “leftist fascism”.