Jansa gives up coalition talks as rival Sarec closes in on majority

Jansa gives up coalition talks as rival Sarec closes in on majority
By bne IntelliNews July 17, 2018

Janez Jansa, the leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) that was the frontrunner in the June 3 general election, has given up on talks to form a government coalition as a rival group of six parties edges closer to a coalition deal. 

This opens the way for President Borut Pahor to give the mandate to form a new government to Marjan Sarec, whose party came second in the election. Sarec has refused to work together with Jansa, instead reaching out to smaller parties in an attempt to put together a parliamentary majority. While Sarec has stressed he doesn’t yet have a coalition behind him, a draft coalition agreement is reportedly due to be finalised soon. 

"Given the publicly released messages that the group of six parties harmonised the majority of the coalition agreement … and that they will continue talks on the remaining open issues next week, I suspend until further notice the invitation to the FOR Slovenia coalition talks," says Jansa’s notice, posted by the Demokracija magazine on July 15, Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.

Jansa was given a second mandate to form a government by Pahor, after failing the first time, and had until July 19 to try and bring together at least 46 MPs to back his government. 

The SDS took the largest share of the vote, 25%, in the June 3 general election, making it the largest party in the new parliament. However, as in the previous few election cycles, Jansa struggled to find allies to form a coalition government. Several parties pledged even before the June 3 election they would not enter a coalition with Jansa due to his far-right rhetoric, STA reported.

SDS spokesman Miro Petek said on July 16 that “most other parties were not ready to negotiate or even talk about a coalition” apart from two small conservative and nationalist parties, and so the SDS canceled invitations to discussions, Reuters reported.

According to STA, only the conservative New Slovenia (NSi) — even though it is also in coalition talks with Sarec — and the Slovenian National Party (SNS) were expected to attend meetings with Jansa.

These circumstances led to Jansa’s decision to cancel all invitations sent to political party leaders and at least temporarily give up on the idea of taking the prime minister seat.

But while this leaves the way clear for Sarec, who now seems on his way to putting together a majority in parliament, it is by no means clear that he will be able to form a stable government. 

Sarec, a former comedian and small town mayor, burst onto the Slovenian political scene when he ran for the presidency in 2017, forcing the incumbent Pahor to a second round, though Pahor narrowly won the runoff. 

He went on to secure 12.66% of the vote for his party in the general election this June. Even though prior to the election he was expected to support Jansa, on election night he said he wasn’t doing that. His ambition is to take the prime minister seat, and he has made significant progress in that direction as his negotiations with five small parties have advanced significantly. 

Among Sarec’s potential partners in his cabinet are the Social Democrats led by outgoing Minister of Agriculture Dejan Zidan, outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar’s Party of Modern Centre (SMC), the Party of Alenka Bratusek (SAB) and Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS). They are now also in talks with the NSi, on whose support Jansa had counted.

Sarec says he is happy with the progress made, but indicated he did not yet have a coalition, according to STA.

"I won't would accept the nomination if I don't have MP signatures for the prime-ministerial candidacy, if I don't have a signed coalition agreement and if I don't have staffing issues agreed," Sarec said. 

The period during which only the president can put forward a prime minister designate is due to end on July 23. This was highlighted by Sarec, indicating he may put himself forward after that date.

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