Liberal Robert Golob, a businessman recently converted to politics, came first in the Slovenian legislative elections on Sunday, far ahead of outgoing Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who fell after a term marred by attacks on democracy according to his detractors.
“Now we can say that our objective has been achieved: this victory will allow us to restore freedom to our country”, launched Robert Golob, 55, from his home where he is isolated due to Covid-19.
In his headquarters in the capital Ljubljana, the speech was greeted with applause and shouts of joy.
The Freedom Movement (GS) won 34.5% of the vote, against 23.6% for the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of the conservative Mr. Jansa, after counting 99% of the votes.
Omnipresent on the political scene for three decades, the 63-year-old leader acknowledged his defeat and said he was “ready to collaborate for the common good”.
But bitterly, he warned his adversary: “it is easy to afford posters, to have the support of the media and the so-called civil society, but none of this will help you in the difficult task that awaits you”.
Strong turnout
The Slovenes rushed to the polls throughout the day to choose their deputies, during this one-round ballot, against the backdrop of a sling against the action of the government, disputed for months in the street.
“These are the most important elections since independence” in 1991 of this nation of 2 million inhabitants from the former Yugoslavia and entered the European Union in 2004, assured Jansa Jenull, one of the heads of leader of the protest movement.
The population was there: the turnout was close to 70%, the highest since 2000 and well above that of 2018 (52%), according to the Electoral Commission.
“I don’t think the situation is so bad, but I have the feeling that democracy has been under attack for two years,” commented after voting a retiree, Marija, who did not want to give her surname.
The government “has carried out repeated attacks on the rule of law and democratic institutions”, notes the influential American NGO Freedom House in its annual report published this week, citing “attacks” on justice and the media .
Assumed admirer of former US President Donald Trump and ally of Hungarian ultra-conservative leader Viktor Orban, Janez Jansa deprived the national news agency STA for months of public funds, deemed too critical.
Faced with warnings from the European Commission, he thrashed “overpaid bureaucrats”, multiplying the passes of arms with Brussels and making Slovenia once “model a troublemaker”, according to analyst Valdo Miheljak.
A vote against “organization”
“It was a vote against Jansa. Against Slovenia taking the path of Hungary, against the establishment of an illiberal democracy, against a government taking control of public television and the judiciary”, reacted the political expert Miha Kovac, questioned by the AFP.
“For the first time in 20 years, civil society and young voters have mobilized,” he added, outlining “a new trend” to be reckoned with.
After these two chaotic years, Richard Golob, ex-boss of a large electricity company specializing in solar energy, promised to return to “normality”.
But, warns Mr. Kovac, the challenge is immense for this party “which did not exist three months ago and now has more than 40 deputies”, out of the 90 seats in Parliament. “It has no infrastructure, no know-how, no connoisseurs of parliamentary mysteries,” he warns.
He will therefore have an interest in relying on the experience of the Social Democrats (6.8% of the vote), their potential future coalition partner, while the discussions are due to start on Monday.