Businessman Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement (GS) defeated the ruling Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), led by Prime Minister Janez Janša. Former Minister of Defence Matej Tonin’s Christian democratic New Slovenia (NSi) came in third, followed by journalist Tanja Fajon’s Social Democrats (SD) and the eco-socialist activist Luka Mesec’s Left (Levica). These latter two formations, however, have suffered significant losses. Our guest expert, Dr. Miro Haček* from the University of Ljubljana, stressed that even if western media portrays the Freedom Movement as green liberalist, Mr. Golob’s formation has currently no clear identity and ideologies. However, it is most likely that the leftist parties will be the Freedom Movement’s coalition partners. Resigning prime minister Janša has lost the election, but his party has gained three more parliamentary seats compared to the previous election. Thus, the biggest losers of the April 2022 election were the parties of the old left, as Mr. Golob’s newly formed movement has successfully collected the votes of their electorate, so that none of the former center-left formations was able to jump the 4 per cent parliamentary threshold.
*Dr. Haček serves as Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In 2018, he was elected as the President of Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA).
