Slovenia goes to early elections

“Today I am dissolving parliament and setting June 3rd as the date for early parliamentary elections”, President Pahor said at a press conference.

He called for a “a tolerant and languageless atmosphere of hatred” during the election campaign.
The decision to organise early elections came after the country's Supreme Court blocked a 1 billion-euro railway project proposed by former Prime Minister Miro Cerar and ordered the holding of a second referendum if this project should continue. Following the March 14th decision Cerari resigned, but said he would stay in his position until a new government was created, DW reports.

Cerari's government recently faced a wave of strikes by public sector employees despite Slovenia's economic recovery.
Close race

About 1.7 million Slovenians have the right to cast their vote in the June 3rd elections, and will choose among 20 political parties aimed at a majority in the 90-seat parliament.

According to surveys at the top is Marjan Sarec's centre-left list (LMS), which is running for the first time. The party is led by Sreci, Kamnik mayor. However, analysts say the result is hard to predict.
“I expect that the winning party will form a coalition government, but it is impossible to say which party will win”, Peter Jancic, political analyst and political editor of Spletni Casopis, told the Reuters news agency.

Economic Endurance

The Cerari government plans to build a 27km railway line between the Italian border town of Divaca and the Adriatic state port of Luka Koper. In a referendum previously held, she won public support for the project, but the Supreme Court cancelled the result following a civil society group complaint over the use of campaign funds.

The civil society group “Taxpayers do not give up” presented the case to Slovenia's Supreme Court, arguing that the government had an unfair advantage in the referendum because it used 95,000 euros from public funds to support its campaign.

Slovenia managed hard to avoid its banks' rescue process from international funds in 2013, and its economy began to improve a year later. The government expects the country's economy to grow by 5.1 percent this year.
However, the country's new government will be tasked with lowering public spending and public debt.