Jansa Government Survives No-Confidence Vote in Slovenia

The Slovenian government led by Janez Jansa of the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, SDS survived a no-confidence vote after a marathon session in parliament on Monday evening.

A total of 40 lawmakers in the 90-seat parliament voted in favour of the motion proposed by a group of opposition parties informally known as the Constitutional Arch Coalition, KUL, while seven voted against and the majority of the ruling coalition MPs abstained.

The opposition argued that the government is destroying the country's international reputation and undermining fundamental democratic values, such as media freedom, respect of human rights and the rule of law. It also criticised the government for ineffectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Defending his government, Jansa told parliament that it had achieved much more than the previous left-liberal government led by former Prime Minister Marjan Sarec.

"Slovenia's citizens know this and feel it in their wallets. Workers, pensioners, students, families - nobody has been forgotten during this time. We have saved thousands of jobs," Jansa said.

The motion came nearly two months after the Pensioners' Party, DeSUS, left Jansa's right-wing coalition and backed former foreign minister Karl Erjavec as a candidate for the post of prime minister-designate as part of the KUL grouping. KUL is made up of centre-left opposition parties - the List of Marjan Sarec, the Social Democrats, the Alenka Bratusek Party and the Left party.

Monday evening's no-confidence vote was secret but Slovenian media suggested that only one DeSUS MP actually supported the motion, reflecting a division between the party leadership and its MPs.

Erjavec expressed disappointment that the vote failed but told the...