By Lucia Binding, news reporter
An anti-immigrant centre-right party has won the most votes in Slovenia's parliamentary election, an exit poll shows.
The right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, led by former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa, emerged as the largest party - but did not win enough to rule the country on its own.
The country's 1.7 million-strong electorate had to choose between 25 parties in the highly-fragmented ballot.
Only nine will make it to parliament, according to the election polls.
The Slovenian Democratic Party received 24.4% of the vote, the exit polls from TV Slovenia revealed.
The anti-establishment List of Marjan Sarec party is the second-placed party with 12.6%, followed by the Modern Centre Party of outgoing prime minister Miro Cerar with 9.8%.
The Left party received 9.5% of the vote, with the Social Democrats close behind with 9.3%.
The results mean that no party has secured a majority in Slovenia's 90-member parliament.
The next step would likely be negotiations to form a coalition government.
Former prime minister Mr Jansa could be denied another term as leader of the country, as other groups have showed reluctance to form an alliance with him.
He previously held office during 2004-2008 and 2012-2013. Before that, he was minister of defence from 1990 to 1994, holding the post during the Slovenian War of Independence.
He is an ally of Hungary's anti-immigration prime minister, Viktor Orban, and a government led by him would shift Slovenia to the right.
It could also add an anti-immigrant voice to the European Union.
The results are an indication of the continuing growth of right-wing populism in central and eastern Europe following a large influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
During the campaign, Mr Jansa evoked memories of the 500,000 migrants who crossed Slovenia in late 2015 and early 2016 - though the majority of them continued on to northern Europe.
Slovenia - the native home of US first lady Melania Trump - joined the EU in 2004 and has used the euro as its official currency since 2007.
More from World
-
'Rampaging' man shot by police in Berlin Cathedral
-
Special forces teach South African farmers how to fight off violent attacks
-
Theresa May swerves women's rights arrests in call with Saudi crown prince
-
At least 46 migrants killed after boat sinks off Tunisian coast
-
Two climbers fall to their deaths from Yosemite's El Capitan
-
Gaza unrest: United Nations condemns death of medic Razan al Najar
It held its election slightly early, after Mr Cerar resigned in March.
He stepped down after Slovenia's supreme court annulled the results of a referendum, in which voters showed support for a €1bn government railway project.
Original ArticleWorld
0 comments:
Post a Comment