In Slovenia

Ljubljana – The Left has withdrawn its motion for a consultative referendum on changes to the income tax act, as the government had indicated the referendum could be held on the same day as the general election. Left coordinator Luka Mesec said the party did not want to enable the government to build its election campaign on “promises of higher wages.”

Ljubljana – The latest Vox Populi poll by Ninamedia sees the Freedom Movement party headed by Robert Golob in leads as it is preferred by 23.9% of the respondents, followed by the ruling Democrats (SDS) with 21.2%.

Ljubljana – The four centre-left opposition parties associated in an informal Constitutional Arch Coalition (KUL) presented some key points of their election programmes at an event on Wednesday, advocating public education and healthcare, accessible housing and stable public finances, while also calling on people to go vote.

Janša's coalition comprises his own right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, SDS, the right-wing New Slovenia, NSi, joined by the once moderate Modern Centre Party, SMC, now renamed Konkretno after its merger with a minor business-oriented Economic Activity Party, GAS.

Vital role of smaller parties in Slovenia

Ljubljana – Freedom Movement, the party of Robert Golob, leads the field among parliamentary and new parties in the latest poll commissioned by RTV Slovenija. The ruling Democrats (SDS) are in second.

One out of five respondents in the poll, conducted by Mediana, said they would vote for Freedom Movement, an increase of 6.8 percentage points from January.

Ljubljana – The coalition New Slovenia (NSi) on Friday launched a campaign promoting amendments to the income tax act, which will include the collecting of signatures in support of the changes in the run-up to the official election campaign.

Ljubljana – The ruling Democrats (SDS) would win 18.5% of the vote in the April general election, according a poll conducted for newspapers Dnevnik and Večer by pollster Ninamedia. The party of Robert Golob, the Freedom Movement, would come second with 16.2%, while the opposition Social Democrats (SD) would be third on 9.9%.

Ljubljana – Parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič has tested positive for coronavirus and is in self-isolation, the parliament said on Friday, while Defence Minister Matej Tonin, the president of the coalition New Slovenia (NSi), also said on Twitter he has tested positive.

Zorčič tested positive on Thursday and was thus among the 9,858 infections confirmed in Slovenia that day.

Rome – The council of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) discussed on Saturday the merger of the Slovenian coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) with the Economically Active Party (GAS) into Concretely. It decided that this effectively ended the membership of the SMC in ALDE, and that the new party could again apply for membership.

Koper – Under the headline Euros and Concrete Incredibility, the newspaper Primorske Novice comments on Concretely, a new party which emerged from a merger of Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek’s coalition SMC and National Council President Alojz Kovšca’s non-parliamentary GAS, saying its main problem is a lack of credibility.