Slovenia’s President Borut Pahor will likely be re-elected in the October 22 presidential elections, according to an opinion poll by daily Delo. 

As in all ex-Yugoslavian republics, the president in Slovenia has mainly a representative role and is also a supreme commander of the armed forces. Pahor, who is a non-party candidate, is seen as the most progressive and modern president within the region.

The results of the latest Delo poll, conducted by the Episcenter agency, showed that Pahor will gain 37.2% of the vote.

This indicates a run-off will take place as neither Pahor nor any of the other candidates look likely to gain over 50% of the vote needed for an outright victory. 

Earlier in August, the National Electoral Commission set November 12 as the date for a possible presidential vote run-off. 

Pahor is followed by Marjan Sarec, mayor of Kamnik, a town in northern Slovenia, who would get 23.1% of the vote. Sarec is also an independent candidate.

According to the poll, Ljudmila Novak, the leader of the conservative opposition party New Slovenia (NSi), could take third place as 10.6% of interviewed citizens would vote for her.

Pahor is famous in the wider region as a runner and one of the regular participants in the Slovenian marathon in Ljubljana in October, an event which usually gather large number of tourists. He was a model in his youth and, according to local media, those were the days when he met Slovenian-born US first lady Melania Trump.