Prebilič collects enough signatures to run for president

Ljubljana – Vladimir Prebilič, a defence expert who is currently serving as Kočevje mayor, has collected enough signatures to submit his candidacy for Slovenian president, he told the press in Ljubljana on Monday. At a joint news conference with Vesna, this non-parliamentary party promoting a green agenda announced its support for Prebilič’s bid.

Prebilič declined to reveal how many verified voter signatures he had collected, but 5,000 are needed to run as independent and 3,000 if running as a candidate of a non-parliamentary political party.

If elected, Prebilič intends to set up an office of climate policy adviser to encourage each government to tackle environmental problems in a systemic way.

He believes Slovenia needs “someone who will draw attention to environmental challenges on a daily basis” and believes that the president is best suited to do so.

Vesna’s representatives said that the party had supported Prebilič unanimously as the best candidate and reached a “mutual cooperation agreement” with him.

Vesna and Prebelič see the environment and sustainability as the topics where they could cooperate and where the president can play a key role by bringing these topics into the political arena.

Environmentalist Uroš Macerl, Vesna’s co-president, said the party saw the president’s role in addressing environmental challenges to be of paramount importance.

“Slovenia needs a president who is aware of and understands the hard decisions that we will have to take as a society, and who puts people and the environment before capitalist interests,” Macerl stressed. In his view, Prebilič is the best possible candidate in this respect.

Prebilič will nevertheless continue collecting verified voter signatures, saying he would like to give an opportunity to support him to people outside large towns.

Entering the race for the 23 October election with the signatures and 45 independent mayors, Prebilič has so far not discussed cooperation with any other political party.

Candidates have until 28 September to submit their candidacy with the National Electoral Commission, which will then publicly release the list of candidates by 7 October.

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