Slovenia's next prime minister
Eastern approaches 2014-07-15
Summary:
MIRO CERAR looks a little like a man in shock. On June 2nd the mild-mannered, 50-year old academic formed a political party named after himself. On July 13th Miro Cerar won more than one-third of the votes in Slovenia’s general election, which means that Mr Cerar (pictured) is almost certain to be Slovenia’s next prime minister. His victory was not much of a surprise. Opinion polls had predicted a crushing victory.
Mr Cerar will have 36 seats in the 90-seat parliament. He will spend the next few weeks in talks to build a government. Only one party is ruled out, he says, namely the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party of Janez Jansa, the former prime minister, the second-largest party in parliament. Mr Jansa was jailed for corruption on June 20th. Peter Suhel, an official of the Slovenian Democratic Party, claims the trial was politically motivated.
Mr Cerar’s coalition will probably include the pensioners’ party, which came third in the election. Mr Cerar will also be talking to a new left-wing coalition, which did surprisingly well. He will consult with the Social Democrats, who suffered a humiliating...Continue reading