Slovenian presidential election, 2007
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Slovenian presidential election was held in order to elect the successor to the second President of Slovenia
Janez Drnovšek
for a five-year term. France Cukjati
, the President of the National Assembly
, called the election on 20 June 2007.
Seven candidates competed in the election's first round on 21 October 2007; three entered the race as independent candidates, the other four were supported by political parties. Several political events, as well as tension between the Government and the political opposition, overshadowed the campaign. The front runner Lojze Peterle
, supported by the governing conservative coalition, won the first round with far fewer votes than predicted by opinion polls. In the second round, held on 11 November 2007, Peterle faced the runner-up, the left-wing candidate Danilo Türk
. Türk won the second round in a landslide, with 68.03% of the vote.
In a referendum called by the National Council
, and held on the same day as the second round of the presidential election, the electorate voted to overturn a law providing for the nationalization of citizens' share in the major national insurance company. Nearly three quarters of the votes were cast against the law. After both election and referendum results were announced, the Prime Minister
Janez Janša
announced that he might resign, following what he perceived to be a heavy defeat for the Government. The Government later won a vote of confidence in the National Assembly.
The role of the president of Slovenia is mainly ceremonial. One of the president's duties is to nominate the Prime Minister, after consulting with political groups represented in the National Assembly
. The president also proposes candidates for various state offices, as well as judicial appointments to the Constitutional and Supreme Court, which must be approved by the National Assembly. In rare circumstances, the president possesses the power to pass laws and dissolve the National Assembly. The President is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
. Unlike the majority of the government, which is chosen by the National Assembly and elected through proportional representation
, the president is directly elected by the majority of Slovenian voters.
The previous presidential election
in 2002 brought major changes to Slovenian politics
. The former president Milan Kučan
, in office since the first free elections held in the Republic of Slovenia in April 1990 (before the country's independence from Yugoslavia
), was forbidden by the constitution from running for President again, and announced his retirement from active politics. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
stood for the office, comfortably winning the runoff
against conservative candidate Barbara Brezigar
.
The 2004 legislative election
brought further changes and a political swing to the right. Janez Janša
, the leader of a right-wing coalition, formed the new government. In Slovenia, this was the first time after 1992 that the President and the Prime Minister had represented opposing political factions for more than a few months. Between 2002 and 2004, the relationship between President Drnovšek and Janez Janša, then leader of the opposition, were considered more than good and in the first year of cohabitation, no major problems arose.
In the beginning of his term, Drnovšek, who was ill with cancer, stayed out of public view. When he reemerged in late 2005 he had changed his lifestyle: he became a vegan, moved out of the capital into the countryside, and withdrew from party politics completely, ending his already frozen membership in the Liberal Democracy. Drnovšek's new approach to politics prompted one political commentator to nickname him "Slovenia's Gandhi".
The relationship between Drnovšek and the government quickly became tense. Disagreements began with Drnovšek's initiatives in foreign politics, aimed at solving major foreign conflicts, including those in Darfur
and Kosovo
. Initially, these initiatives were not openly opposed by the Prime Minister, but were criticized by the foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel
, Drnovšek's former collaborator and close political ally until 2004. The disagreements moved to issues of domestic politics in October 2006, when Drnovšek publicly criticised the treatment of the Roma family Strojans. The neighborhood had forced the Strojans to relocate, which in turn subjected them to police supervision and limitation of movement. The disagreements however escalated when the parliamentary majority repeatedly rejected President's candidates for the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia
, beginning with the rejection of incumbent Mitja Gaspari
. The friction continued over the appointment of other state official nominees, including Constitutional Court
judges. Although the President's political support suffered after his personal transformation, the polls nevertheless showed public backing of the President against an increasingly unpopular Government. The tension reached its height in May 2007, when the newly appointed director of the Slovenian Secret Service Matjaž Šinkovec
unclassified several documents from the period before 2004, revealing, among other, that Drnovšek had used secret funds for personal purposes between 2002 and 2004. The President reacted with a harsh criticism of the government's policies, accusing the ruling coalition of abusing its power for personal delegitimation and labeled the Prime Minister as "the leader of the negative guys". After years of speculation about his health and intentions, Janez Drnovšek announced in February 2007 that he would not run for president again.
Each political party can support only one candidate. In the election, the president is elected with a majority of the vote. If no candidate receives more than half of votes, the top two candidates meet in the second round of election.
, a conservative
member of the European parliament
and first democratically elected Prime Minister of Slovenia (1990–1992), who announced his candidacy in November 2006. He was endorsed by the three government center-right parties, New Slovenia
(NSi), Slovenian Democratic Party
(SDS), and Slovenian People's Party
(SLS).
Drnovšek's announcement that he would not run for president again led to expectations that the Social Democrats
(SD) would nominate their leader Borut Pahor
and indeed Pahor confirmed that he was ready to run for the office. The Social Democrats had become the most popular party in opinion polls and were considered the likely winners at the next general election in 2008; opinion polls indicated that Pahor would easily win the presidential election. However, after months of mixed signals, Pahor finally announced that he would instead concentrate on the general election and would not run for the mostly ceremonial office of the president.
The Social Democrats then nominated Danilo Türk
, a former Slovenian ambassador and high official in the United Nations
, who at the time was a professor at the University of Ljubljana
's Faculty of Law. Türk's candidacy was also endorsed by Zares
and the pensioners' party DeSUS. Türk also gained support from Active Slovenia
(AS) and the Party of Ecological Movements (SEG), two parties not represented in the National Assembly.
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
(LDS), which had earlier discussed the candidacy with Danilo Türk, subsequently nominated Mitja Gaspari
, the former Governor of the Bank of Slovenia. Gaspari had earlier had discussions with the Social Democrats about the candidacy.
The Slovenian National Party
(SNS) nominated its leader, Zmago Jelinčič
. Jelinčič had already run for the office at the 2002 election
, finishing third with 8.51% of the votes.
Peterle, Türk and Gaspari all decided to enter the election as independent candidates and all managed to collect enough nominating votes with Peterle reaching the required number within the first 4 hours of the nominating process. Jelinčič was supported by his fellow party members. Early polls indicated that Peterle, who had been campaigning for months and had cultivated the image of a "man of the people", would win the election in a runoff against Türk or possibly Gaspari.
, the disabled rights activist Elena Pečarič, and Monika Piberl, supported by the Women's Voice of Slovenia party.
Pečarič was supported by non-aligned Majda Širca
, independent Slavko Gaber and Roberto Battelli, representative of the Italian minority in Slovenia. Krajnc and Piberl were supported by non-parliamentary political parties so they only needed to collect 3,000 support votes.
Several other candidates publicly announced their intention to run for the office. Jože Andrejaš, Jožef Horvat, Matej Sedmak, Marjan Beranič, Marko Kožar and Pavel Premrl failed to gather sufficient public support or later decided to withdraw from the race. Artur Štern, after leading a spoof
campaign, announced that he was in fact performing a hidden camera
experiment. The footage was used by Franci Kek
and Vojko Anzeljc in a film Gola resnica, airing in early 2009 and addressing objectivity of media, problems with election legislation and reactions from Slovenes.
.
The candidates appeared in televised debates during which they discussed various topics. One of them were the rules governing the voting of non-resident nationals, which had been changed by the National Electoral Commission during the campaign. Before the campaign, non-resident nationals who wanted to cast their votes as absentee ballot
s had been obliged to request voting materials, but the Commission had introduced a new system in which such materials were sent to all non-residents entered in the electoral register, whether they had asked for them or not. Opposition parties, representing the left-wing of Slovenian politics, disliked this move because the record of voters' addresses was not always reliable, and also because the rules had been changed after the campaign had already started. They particularly opposed the change because voters from abroad seemed to favor right-wing parties, so that in the event of a very close ballot, votes from non-residents could tip the scale in favour of Peterle.
Other events overshadowed the campaign. During the summer, journalists Matej Šurc and Blaž Zgaga launched a Petition Against Censorship and Political Pressures on Journalists in Slovenia, alleging government interference with journalism. The petition was signed by hundreds of Slovenian journalists from the mainstream media. It was sent to the heads of state, prime ministers and parliamentary speakers of all EU member states during the campaign. Following the petition, the International Press Institute
(IPI) sent a fact-finding mission to Ljubljana in November, to discuss the claims made in the petition with members of the Slovenian media. The contents of the mission's report remain confidential, but IPI called for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the claims further.
Another event which attracted much debate was the Supreme Court's annulment of the 1946 war crimes conviction of Gregorij Rožman
. Rožman was the Catholic bishop of Ljubljana who had been found guilty of war crimes and treason during World War II
as a result of his collaboration with Italian and German occupation forces. Several attempts during the 1990s to review the trial had failed. This had led to Janša's government changing the law, enabling the religious communities to request a review of trials of their deceased members, something which had previously been reserved only for close relatives. After the Archdiocese of Ljubljana
initiated the review, the Supreme Court annulled the 1946 trial on procedural grounds, effectively rehabilitating Rožman, a decision that caused much controversy. This proved harmful for Peterle's campaign, as he was closely associated with the Catholic Church. When asked about the Rožman case in a TV debate, Peterle confined himself to remarking that he was a supporter of the rule of law, that the war had divided the nation and that Rožman had played some part in that.
The last opinion polls published before the first round predicted a runoff between Peterle, who would win 40%, and either Türk or Gaspari. The latter each predicted to received 20–25%; most polls predicted a substantially larger share for Türk.
The first round, held on 21 October, brought unexpected results. Contrary to predictions, Peterle won less than 29% of the vote, with Türk and Gaspari finishing a close second and third, respectively. Jelinčič, who according to opinion polls was expected to win around 12% of the vote, actually won almost 20%, finishing first in two of Slovenia's eight electoral units.
Prime Minister Janez Janša blamed Peterle's poor showing on certain topics that were brought up during the campaign by "hidden centres of power". This was a reference to the journalists' petition, the timing of the Supreme Court's decision on the Rožman case and misinterpretation of Janša's and Minister of Economy Andrej Vizjak's remarks on reasons for Slovenia's high inflation in 2007.
Following the unexpected results of the first round, new opinion polls showed major changes, giving Türk a large lead over Peterle. Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, which supported Gaspari in the first round, announced it would support Türk in the second.
After the surprise gains of the flamboyant Jelinčič in the first round, the campaigns of both candidates opted for more concrete political statements in public campaigning and debates. Peterle replaced the head of his campaign, and concentrated on questioning Türk's role in the 1991 secession from Yugoslavia
. Peterle alleged that at the time when he, as Prime Minister, struggled for Slovenia's independence, Türk continued to act as an official representative of Yugoslavia in international institutions. The campaign was backed by the Prime Minister Janša and the Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
who went so far as to confirm Peterle's claims on the Foreign Ministry's official website. Türk denied the allegations, pointing to his opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune
advocating international recognition of Slovenia, and the fact that it was Rupel himself who in 1992 appointed Türk as the Ambassador to the UN and praised him for his service to the country. Peterle's new strategy appeared to backfire, and the polls before the runoff predicted that Türk would win between 63% and over 70% of the vote.
conditions here are such that people have a strong desire for something new," Türk told reporters.
Peterle conceded immediately. In his first statements, Peterle said his defeat was a vote against the ruling Janša government, and that he had expected a better result. He added, however, that he would have regretted it if he had not decided to run for the office. By midnight, unofficial results from the Electoral Commission gave Türk a lead of 68% vs. 32%. Türk won in all eight electoral units, with Peterle narrowly winning in only four of 88 electoral districts. Together with the second round of the election, a referendum on a law providing for the nationalization of citizens' share in the major national insurance company was held as well. Nearly three quarters of the votes were cast against the law.
The ballots from abroad that were considered potentially contentious before the election proved to have very little effect on the result. While Peterle received more votes from abroad than Türk, both the total number of votes and the difference was smaller than expected (3693 for Peterle and 3040 for Türk).
Two days after the election, Prime Minister Janša announced that he might resign following what was perceived as a heavy defeat for the Government: "We will analyze the situation further, but all possibilities are open, including a resignation of the Government." He said that "it is particularly worrying that a lot of energy was invested in blackening the Government abroad", claiming his opponents portrayed Slovenia "as Belarus" or some other authoritarian country. The opposition parties said that talk of resignation just weeks before Slovenia took over European Union presidency
was irresponsible and unwise, but the Prime Minister called a vote of confidence for 19 November 2007. The Government won the confidence vote, but support for the ruling SDS subsequently reached an all-time low, with only 18% of voters intending to vote for it in the fall 2008 election
.
Reactions to Türk's victory from international media were positive. The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung
described him as "more or less the ideal man for the job". The media focused on the landslide victory that was perceived to be a severe defeat for Janša’s centre-right coalition. Since the EU presidency was closing, Türk's diplomatic background was put forward. "Slovenia is your solid, faithful and credible partner. Rely on us, and we'll be a good president of the European Union next year," Türk said. Türk was also expected to maintain Slovenia's alliance with the United States even though he was highly critical of the war in Iraq, as Al Jazeera
reported.
On 22 December, Türk was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Slovenia. In his inaugural address, he thanked his predecessor Janez Drnovšek for his contribution to success and respect of Slovenia. Later, he also stated that he would work closely with Janša's government during Slovenia's six-month EU presidency.
President of Slovenia
The function of President of the Republic of Slovenia was established on 23 December 1991, when the National Assembly of Slovenia passed a new constitution as a result of independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...
for a five-year term. France Cukjati
France Cukjati
France Cukjati is a Slovenian politician, physician, theologian and a former Jesuit. He currently serves as the vice-chairman of the National Assembly of Slovenia....
, the President of the National Assembly
National Assembly (Slovenia)
The National Assembly is the general representative body of the Slovenian nation. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively incompletely bicameral legislative branch of the Republic of Slovenia. It is unicameral...
, called the election on 20 June 2007.
Seven candidates competed in the election's first round on 21 October 2007; three entered the race as independent candidates, the other four were supported by political parties. Several political events, as well as tension between the Government and the political opposition, overshadowed the campaign. The front runner Lojze Peterle
Lojze Peterle
Alojz "Lojze" Peterle is a Slovenian politician. He was the leader of the Slovene Christian Democrats from the founding of the party in 1990 until it merged with the Slovenian People's Party in 2000. Between 1990 and 1992, he was the president of the first freely elected Slovenian government, and...
, supported by the governing conservative coalition, won the first round with far fewer votes than predicted by opinion polls. In the second round, held on 11 November 2007, Peterle faced the runner-up, the left-wing candidate Danilo Türk
Danilo Türk
- Early life :Türk was born in a lower middle class family in Maribor, Slovenia . His father died when he was a child. He attended the prestigious II. Gymnasium High school in Maribor. In 1971 he enrolled to the University of Ljubljana where he studied law...
. Türk won the second round in a landslide, with 68.03% of the vote.
In a referendum called by the National Council
National Council (Slovenia)
The National Council is according to the Constitution of Slovenia the representative of social, economic, professional and local interest groups in Slovenia and has a legislative function working as a corrective mechanism of the National Assembly, although it does not itself pass acts. It may be...
, and held on the same day as the second round of the presidential election, the electorate voted to overturn a law providing for the nationalization of citizens' share in the major national insurance company. Nearly three quarters of the votes were cast against the law. After both election and referendum results were announced, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Slovenia
There have been six Prime Ministers of Slovenia since that country gained its independence in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Unlike the President of Slovenia, who is directly elected, the Prime Minister is appointed by the National Assembly, and must control a majority there in order to...
Janez Janša
Janez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...
announced that he might resign, following what he perceived to be a heavy defeat for the Government. The Government later won a vote of confidence in the National Assembly.
Background
National Assembly (Slovenia)
The National Assembly is the general representative body of the Slovenian nation. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively incompletely bicameral legislative branch of the Republic of Slovenia. It is unicameral...
. The president also proposes candidates for various state offices, as well as judicial appointments to the Constitutional and Supreme Court, which must be approved by the National Assembly. In rare circumstances, the president possesses the power to pass laws and dissolve the National Assembly. The President is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
Military of Slovenia
The Military of Slovenia consists of the Slovenian Armed Forces . The SAF are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army...
. Unlike the majority of the government, which is chosen by the National Assembly and elected through proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
, the president is directly elected by the majority of Slovenian voters.
The previous presidential election
Slovenian presidential election, 2002
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia in 2002. The first round was held on 10 November, with a run-off held on 1 December after no candidate passed the 50% threshold in the first round. The result was a victory for Janez Drnovšek, who won 56/6% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout...
in 2002 brought major changes to Slovenian politics
Politics of Slovenia
The politics of Slovenia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Slovenia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Government of Slovenia. Legislative power is vested in the...
. The former president Milan Kučan
Milan Kucan
Milan Kučan is a Slovenian politician and statesman. He was the first President of Slovenia.-Early life and political beginnings:...
, in office since the first free elections held in the Republic of Slovenia in April 1990 (before the country's independence from Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
), was forbidden by the constitution from running for President again, and announced his retirement from active politics. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...
stood for the office, comfortably winning the runoff
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
against conservative candidate Barbara Brezigar
Barbara Brezigar
Barbara Brezigar is a Slovenian lawyer and politician. She currently serves as State Prosecutor General of the Republic of Slovenia.She was born in a middle class family in Ljubljana as Barbara Gregorin...
.
The 2004 legislative election
Slovenian parliamentary election, 2004
-Delegation of Socialni demokrati [United List of Social Democrats]:-Delegation of Liberalna demokracija Slovenije [Liberal Democracy of Slovenia]:-Delegation of Nova Slovenija [New Slovenia]:...
brought further changes and a political swing to the right. Janez Janša
Janez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...
, the leader of a right-wing coalition, formed the new government. In Slovenia, this was the first time after 1992 that the President and the Prime Minister had represented opposing political factions for more than a few months. Between 2002 and 2004, the relationship between President Drnovšek and Janez Janša, then leader of the opposition, were considered more than good and in the first year of cohabitation, no major problems arose.
In the beginning of his term, Drnovšek, who was ill with cancer, stayed out of public view. When he reemerged in late 2005 he had changed his lifestyle: he became a vegan, moved out of the capital into the countryside, and withdrew from party politics completely, ending his already frozen membership in the Liberal Democracy. Drnovšek's new approach to politics prompted one political commentator to nickname him "Slovenia's Gandhi".
The relationship between Drnovšek and the government quickly became tense. Disagreements began with Drnovšek's initiatives in foreign politics, aimed at solving major foreign conflicts, including those in Darfur
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
. Initially, these initiatives were not openly opposed by the Prime Minister, but were criticized by the foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel
Dimitrij Rupel
Dimitrij Rupel is a Slovenian politician.- Biography :Rupel was born in Ljubljana, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, into a bourgeois family of former anti-fascist political emigrants from the Julian March .After receiving a bachelor's degree in comparative literature and...
, Drnovšek's former collaborator and close political ally until 2004. The disagreements moved to issues of domestic politics in October 2006, when Drnovšek publicly criticised the treatment of the Roma family Strojans. The neighborhood had forced the Strojans to relocate, which in turn subjected them to police supervision and limitation of movement. The disagreements however escalated when the parliamentary majority repeatedly rejected President's candidates for the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia
Bank of Slovenia
The Bank of Slovenia is the bank of issue and the central bank of the Republic of Slovenia. Based in Ljubljana, it was established on 25 June 1991. Its primary task is to take care of the stability of the domestic currency and to ensure the liquidity of payments within the country and with...
, beginning with the rejection of incumbent Mitja Gaspari
Mitja Gaspari
Mitja Gaspari is a Slovenian economist, banker, and politician. He is currently serving as Minister for Economic Development in the centre left government of Borut Pahor....
. The friction continued over the appointment of other state official nominees, including Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of Slovenia
The Constitutional Court of Slovenia is a special court established by the Slovenian Constitution. Since its inception, the Court has been located in the city of Ljubljana.-Jurisdiction:...
judges. Although the President's political support suffered after his personal transformation, the polls nevertheless showed public backing of the President against an increasingly unpopular Government. The tension reached its height in May 2007, when the newly appointed director of the Slovenian Secret Service Matjaž Šinkovec
Matjaž Šinkovec
Matjaž Šinkovec is a Slovenian diplomat, politician, translator, journalist and science fiction writer. He was one of the co-founders of the Slovenian Democratic Party.- Early life and career :...
unclassified several documents from the period before 2004, revealing, among other, that Drnovšek had used secret funds for personal purposes between 2002 and 2004. The President reacted with a harsh criticism of the government's policies, accusing the ruling coalition of abusing its power for personal delegitimation and labeled the Prime Minister as "the leader of the negative guys". After years of speculation about his health and intentions, Janez Drnovšek announced in February 2007 that he would not run for president again.
Requirements for candidacy
Under Slovenian Election Law, candidates for president require support of either:- 10 members of the National Assembly,
- one or more political parties and either 3 members of the National Assembly or 3,000 voters,
- or 5,000 voters.
Each political party can support only one candidate. In the election, the president is elected with a majority of the vote. If no candidate receives more than half of votes, the top two candidates meet in the second round of election.
Leading candidates
The first official candidate was Lojze PeterleLojze Peterle
Alojz "Lojze" Peterle is a Slovenian politician. He was the leader of the Slovene Christian Democrats from the founding of the party in 1990 until it merged with the Slovenian People's Party in 2000. Between 1990 and 1992, he was the president of the first freely elected Slovenian government, and...
, a conservative
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
member of the European parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
and first democratically elected Prime Minister of Slovenia (1990–1992), who announced his candidacy in November 2006. He was endorsed by the three government center-right parties, New Slovenia
New Slovenia
The New Slovenia – Christian People's Party or simply New Slovenia, NSi is a Christian democratic political party in Slovenia...
(NSi), Slovenian Democratic Party
Slovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...
(SDS), and Slovenian People's Party
Slovenian People's Party
The Slovenian People's Party is a rural-based conservative political party in Slovenia. Formed in 1988 under the name of Slovenian Peasant Union as the first non-Communist political organization in Yugoslavia, it merged with the Slovene Christian Democrats to form the present-day party in 2000...
(SLS).
Drnovšek's announcement that he would not run for president again led to expectations that the Social Democrats
Social Democrats (Slovenia)
The Social Democrats is a centre-left political party in Slovenia, currently led by Borut Pahor. From 1993 until 2005, the party was known as the United List of Social Democrats .-Origins:...
(SD) would nominate their leader Borut Pahor
Borut Pahor
Borut Pahor is a Slovenian politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovenia since 2008. A longtime president of the Social Democrats party, Pahor served several terms as a member of the National Assembly and was its chairman from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, Pahor was elected as member of the European...
and indeed Pahor confirmed that he was ready to run for the office. The Social Democrats had become the most popular party in opinion polls and were considered the likely winners at the next general election in 2008; opinion polls indicated that Pahor would easily win the presidential election. However, after months of mixed signals, Pahor finally announced that he would instead concentrate on the general election and would not run for the mostly ceremonial office of the president.
The Social Democrats then nominated Danilo Türk
Danilo Türk
- Early life :Türk was born in a lower middle class family in Maribor, Slovenia . His father died when he was a child. He attended the prestigious II. Gymnasium High school in Maribor. In 1971 he enrolled to the University of Ljubljana where he studied law...
, a former Slovenian ambassador and high official in the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, who at the time was a professor at the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
's Faculty of Law. Türk's candidacy was also endorsed by Zares
Zares
Zares – Social Liberals is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Its president is Gregor Golobič, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisor to the late Janez Drnovšek, who had previously abandoned active political involvement due to...
and the pensioners' party DeSUS. Türk also gained support from Active Slovenia
Active Slovenia
Active Slovenia was a political party in Slovenia. The party was founded in 2004 and won 3.0% of the popular vote and no seats in the National Assembly at the parliamentary election in 2004.-Foundation:...
(AS) and the Party of Ecological Movements (SEG), two parties not represented in the National Assembly.
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...
(LDS), which had earlier discussed the candidacy with Danilo Türk, subsequently nominated Mitja Gaspari
Mitja Gaspari
Mitja Gaspari is a Slovenian economist, banker, and politician. He is currently serving as Minister for Economic Development in the centre left government of Borut Pahor....
, the former Governor of the Bank of Slovenia. Gaspari had earlier had discussions with the Social Democrats about the candidacy.
The Slovenian National Party
Slovenian National Party
The Slovenian National Party is a extreme nationalist political party in Slovenia, led by Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti. The party is renowned for its euroscepticism and opposes Slovenia's membership in NATO...
(SNS) nominated its leader, Zmago Jelinčič
Zmago Jelincic
Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti is a Slovenian nationalist politician and author. He is the head of the Slovene National Party ....
. Jelinčič had already run for the office at the 2002 election
Slovenian presidential election, 2002
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia in 2002. The first round was held on 10 November, with a run-off held on 1 December after no candidate passed the 50% threshold in the first round. The result was a victory for Janez Drnovšek, who won 56/6% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout...
, finishing third with 8.51% of the votes.
Peterle, Türk and Gaspari all decided to enter the election as independent candidates and all managed to collect enough nominating votes with Peterle reaching the required number within the first 4 hours of the nominating process. Jelinčič was supported by his fellow party members. Early polls indicated that Peterle, who had been campaigning for months and had cultivated the image of a "man of the people", would win the election in a runoff against Türk or possibly Gaspari.
Other candidates
Other candidates, none of whom were expected to win a significant share of votes, were Darko Krajnc of the formerly parliamentarian Youth Party of SloveniaYouth Party of Slovenia
The Youth Party – European Greens is a green political party in Slovenia. It is led by Darko Krajnc. Until July 2009, it was called Youth Party of Slovenia ....
, the disabled rights activist Elena Pečarič, and Monika Piberl, supported by the Women's Voice of Slovenia party.
Pečarič was supported by non-aligned Majda Širca
Majda Širca
Majda Širca Ravnikar is a Slovenian art historian, journalist and politician. She is currently serving as Minister of Culture in the left-wing government of Borut Pahor....
, independent Slavko Gaber and Roberto Battelli, representative of the Italian minority in Slovenia. Krajnc and Piberl were supported by non-parliamentary political parties so they only needed to collect 3,000 support votes.
Several other candidates publicly announced their intention to run for the office. Jože Andrejaš, Jožef Horvat, Matej Sedmak, Marjan Beranič, Marko Kožar and Pavel Premrl failed to gather sufficient public support or later decided to withdraw from the race. Artur Štern, after leading a spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
campaign, announced that he was in fact performing a hidden camera
Hidden camera
A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...
experiment. The footage was used by Franci Kek
Franci Kek
Franci Kek is a Slovenian politician. He was elected as the head of the Active Slovenia party on its founding on 8 May 2004. Kek is the organizer of Rock Otočec, a large annual rock festival. Kek and Saša Đukić wrote, produced and starred in the 2002 film Na svoji Vesni. They have been creating...
and Vojko Anzeljc in a film Gola resnica, airing in early 2009 and addressing objectivity of media, problems with election legislation and reactions from Slovenes.
First round campaign
The official election campaign began in late September 2007. The campaigns of the three front runners were based mostly on the personal appeal of the candidates, with few concrete statements about political issues. Zmago Jelinčič led an aggressive campaign, focusing on denouncing the three front runners, the Government, the ethnic and religious minorities, the Roman Catholic Church, and demanding an aggressive policy towards neighbouring CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
.
The candidates appeared in televised debates during which they discussed various topics. One of them were the rules governing the voting of non-resident nationals, which had been changed by the National Electoral Commission during the campaign. Before the campaign, non-resident nationals who wanted to cast their votes as absentee ballot
Absentee ballot
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this...
s had been obliged to request voting materials, but the Commission had introduced a new system in which such materials were sent to all non-residents entered in the electoral register, whether they had asked for them or not. Opposition parties, representing the left-wing of Slovenian politics, disliked this move because the record of voters' addresses was not always reliable, and also because the rules had been changed after the campaign had already started. They particularly opposed the change because voters from abroad seemed to favor right-wing parties, so that in the event of a very close ballot, votes from non-residents could tip the scale in favour of Peterle.
Other events overshadowed the campaign. During the summer, journalists Matej Šurc and Blaž Zgaga launched a Petition Against Censorship and Political Pressures on Journalists in Slovenia, alleging government interference with journalism. The petition was signed by hundreds of Slovenian journalists from the mainstream media. It was sent to the heads of state, prime ministers and parliamentary speakers of all EU member states during the campaign. Following the petition, the International Press Institute
International Press Institute
International Press Institute is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. Founded in October 1950, the IPI has members in over 120 countries....
(IPI) sent a fact-finding mission to Ljubljana in November, to discuss the claims made in the petition with members of the Slovenian media. The contents of the mission's report remain confidential, but IPI called for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the claims further.
Another event which attracted much debate was the Supreme Court's annulment of the 1946 war crimes conviction of Gregorij Rožman
Gregorij Rožman
Gregorij Rožman was a Slovenian Roman Catholic clergyman and theologian. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He is most famous for his controversial role during World War II...
. Rožman was the Catholic bishop of Ljubljana who had been found guilty of war crimes and treason during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a result of his collaboration with Italian and German occupation forces. Several attempts during the 1990s to review the trial had failed. This had led to Janša's government changing the law, enabling the religious communities to request a review of trials of their deceased members, something which had previously been reserved only for close relatives. After the Archdiocese of Ljubljana
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ljubljana
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ljubljana is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia. It was erected as the Diocese of Ljubljana by Pope Eugene IV on 6 December 1461 and was immediately subject to the Holy See from its creation until erected...
initiated the review, the Supreme Court annulled the 1946 trial on procedural grounds, effectively rehabilitating Rožman, a decision that caused much controversy. This proved harmful for Peterle's campaign, as he was closely associated with the Catholic Church. When asked about the Rožman case in a TV debate, Peterle confined himself to remarking that he was a supporter of the rule of law, that the war had divided the nation and that Rožman had played some part in that.
The last opinion polls published before the first round predicted a runoff between Peterle, who would win 40%, and either Türk or Gaspari. The latter each predicted to received 20–25%; most polls predicted a substantially larger share for Türk.
First round result and reactions
Prime Minister Janez Janša blamed Peterle's poor showing on certain topics that were brought up during the campaign by "hidden centres of power". This was a reference to the journalists' petition, the timing of the Supreme Court's decision on the Rožman case and misinterpretation of Janša's and Minister of Economy Andrej Vizjak's remarks on reasons for Slovenia's high inflation in 2007.
Runoff campaign
After the surprise gains of the flamboyant Jelinčič in the first round, the campaigns of both candidates opted for more concrete political statements in public campaigning and debates. Peterle replaced the head of his campaign, and concentrated on questioning Türk's role in the 1991 secession from Yugoslavia
Dissolution of Yugoslavia
The Breakup of Yugoslavia refers to a series of conflicts and political upheavals resulting in the dissolution of Yugoslavia . The SFR Yugoslavia was a country that occupied a strip of land stretching from Central Europe to the Balkans – a region with a history of ethnic conflict...
. Peterle alleged that at the time when he, as Prime Minister, struggled for Slovenia's independence, Türk continued to act as an official representative of Yugoslavia in international institutions. The campaign was backed by the Prime Minister Janša and the Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
Dimitrij Rupel
Dimitrij Rupel is a Slovenian politician.- Biography :Rupel was born in Ljubljana, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, into a bourgeois family of former anti-fascist political emigrants from the Julian March .After receiving a bachelor's degree in comparative literature and...
who went so far as to confirm Peterle's claims on the Foreign Ministry's official website. Türk denied the allegations, pointing to his opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
advocating international recognition of Slovenia, and the fact that it was Rupel himself who in 1992 appointed Türk as the Ambassador to the UN and praised him for his service to the country. Peterle's new strategy appeared to backfire, and the polls before the runoff predicted that Türk would win between 63% and over 70% of the vote.
Runoff result and reactions
The runoff was held on 11 November 2007. Exit poll results published at the closing of the vote predicted a victory for Türk, with 69% of the vote. "I'm very happy with the results as they appear now. I want to be a president who is uniting people. I believe thatconditions here are such that people have a strong desire for something new," Türk told reporters.
Peterle conceded immediately. In his first statements, Peterle said his defeat was a vote against the ruling Janša government, and that he had expected a better result. He added, however, that he would have regretted it if he had not decided to run for the office. By midnight, unofficial results from the Electoral Commission gave Türk a lead of 68% vs. 32%. Türk won in all eight electoral units, with Peterle narrowly winning in only four of 88 electoral districts. Together with the second round of the election, a referendum on a law providing for the nationalization of citizens' share in the major national insurance company was held as well. Nearly three quarters of the votes were cast against the law.
The ballots from abroad that were considered potentially contentious before the election proved to have very little effect on the result. While Peterle received more votes from abroad than Türk, both the total number of votes and the difference was smaller than expected (3693 for Peterle and 3040 for Türk).
Two days after the election, Prime Minister Janša announced that he might resign following what was perceived as a heavy defeat for the Government: "We will analyze the situation further, but all possibilities are open, including a resignation of the Government." He said that "it is particularly worrying that a lot of energy was invested in blackening the Government abroad", claiming his opponents portrayed Slovenia "as Belarus" or some other authoritarian country. The opposition parties said that talk of resignation just weeks before Slovenia took over European Union presidency
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...
was irresponsible and unwise, but the Prime Minister called a vote of confidence for 19 November 2007. The Government won the confidence vote, but support for the ruling SDS subsequently reached an all-time low, with only 18% of voters intending to vote for it in the fall 2008 election
Slovenian parliamentary election, 2008
Parliamentary elections for the 90 deputies to the National Assembly of Slovenia were held on 21 September 2008. 17 parties filed to run in the election, including all nine parliamentary parties...
.
Reactions to Türk's victory from international media were positive. The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung is a major German language Swiss daily newspaper based in Zurich.One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as Zürcher Zeitung, edited by Salomon Gessner, from January 12, 1780, and was renamed to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1821...
described him as "more or less the ideal man for the job". The media focused on the landslide victory that was perceived to be a severe defeat for Janša’s centre-right coalition. Since the EU presidency was closing, Türk's diplomatic background was put forward. "Slovenia is your solid, faithful and credible partner. Rely on us, and we'll be a good president of the European Union next year," Türk said. Türk was also expected to maintain Slovenia's alliance with the United States even though he was highly critical of the war in Iraq, as Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
reported.
On 22 December, Türk was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Slovenia. In his inaugural address, he thanked his predecessor Janez Drnovšek for his contribution to success and respect of Slovenia. Later, he also stated that he would work closely with Janša's government during Slovenia's six-month EU presidency.