In Slovenia

Ljubljana – The final Mediana poll ahead of Sunday’s general election gave the Freedom Movement a 21.1% support rating, which puts it 0.6 percentage points ahead of the ruling Democrats (SDS). Things have meanwhile gotten even more crowded in the important race under way around the 4% parliamentary threshold, shows the poll, published on Friday.

Ljubljana – The final pre-election poll by pollster Parisfal brought only minor changes compared to a week ago, still putting the Democrats (SDS) ahead of the Freedom Movement and the SocDems. New Slovenia (NSi), the Left and Connecting Slovenia are projected to make it to parliament too, while the LMŠ, SAB, Resni.ca, Our Land, SNS and DeSUS are not.

Ljubljana – The new Freedom Movement party and the four opposition parties associated in the informal KUL coalition are convinced they will win the general election on Sunday and form a stable government. Their leaders said that the five parties operated as a well-coordinated team as they addressed the press on Friday before the election blackout sets in.

Ljubljana – Connecting Slovenia, an alliance of five parties, expressed satisfaction with the latest polls as they wrapped up campaigning on Friday, convinced that they will enter parliament and actively shape policy in the next term.

Ljubljana – The final debate of the election campaign hosted by the public broadcaster TV Slovenija last night ended in disarray after the host lost control of debate and opposition leaders walked out of the studio one by one after having their say.

Ljubljana – Marjan Šarec, the former prime minister, addressed the final event of his LMŠ party ahead of Sunday’s election on Wednesday, declaring that a vote for the LMŠ was a vote for perseverance, principles, public healthcare and public education. He is convinced Slovenia’s next government will be centre-left.

Ljubljana – Defence Minister Matej Tonin described the ministerial team of his Christian democratic party as the most efficient part of the current government as New Slovenia (NSi) held a campaign convention in Ljubljana on Wednesday. He said Slovenia deserved a good government, but there could not be such a government without the NSi.

Ljubljana/Medvode – Manfred Weber, chair of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, endorsed the Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) as he came to Slovenia on Tuesday, just days before the official end of the campaign for Sunday’s general election.

Ljubljana – Eleven parties contesting the upcoming general election participated in a debate about their arts and culture platforms held by a group of cultural NGOs in the Kino Šiška arts centre on Monday. They focused on four themes: the legislative framework, budget and resource allocation, decentralisation and dialogue.

Ljubljana – All but one parliamentary party welcomed Slovenia’s offer to accept Ukrainian refugees, although there was some scepticism whether the country has the capacity or would even need to take in between 180,000 and 200,000 as suggested by Interior Minister Aleš Hojs. The opposition also raised unequal treatment of refugees depending on their origin.