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2007 Slovenian presidential election

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Slovenian presidential election, 2007
← 2002 21 October and 11 November 2007 2012 →
  File:Danilo Turk.jpg
Candidate Danilo Türk Lojze Peterle
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 677,333 318,288
Percentage 68.03% 31.97%
President before election

Janez Drnovšek
none

Elected President

Danilo Türk
none

Politics of Slovenia

UN Member State
(UNSC Member · ECOSOC Member)
EU Member State
(Eurozone Member · Schengen Area Member)
NATO Member State
Council of Europe Member State
OECD Member State

Constitution
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Other institutions
Elections
Subdivisions
Foreign relations

The 2007 Slovenian presidential election was held in two rounds, on 21 October 2007 and 11 November 2007, to choose the successor of the second president Janez Drnovšek for a five-year term.[1][2]

The election was called by the President of the National Assembly France Cukjati on 20 June 2007.[3] Seven candidates competed in the first round.[4]

After the front runner Lojze Peterle, supported by the ruling conservative coalition, won the first round with far fewer votes than predicted by opinion polls, the second round was won by the left-wing candidate Danilo Türk with 68.03% of votes.[5]

In a referendum called by the National Council and held on the same day as the second round of the presidential election, the government's law providing basis for the nationalization of citizens' share in the major national insurance company was overturned with nearly 3 in 4 voters voting against the law.[5]

Background

Janez Drnovšek, the incumbent president, announced that he would not run for president again.

In Slovenia the role of the president is mainly ceremonial and in practice his powers are limited to proposing candidates for various state officials and judges of the Supreme Court for approval by the Parliament. However, unlike the government which is chosen by the Parliament elected through proportional representation, the president is directly elected by the majority of Slovenian voters, which gives the office a measure of moral authority.[6]

The previous presidential election, held in 2002, brought major changes to Slovenian politics. Milan Kučan, who had been the president since before the independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, could not run for president again due to constitutional limits and announced his retirement from active politics. Janez Drnovšek of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, who had been the Prime Minister since shortly after independence, stood for the office and comfortably won the run-off against the conservative candidate Barbara Brezigar.[7]

The 2004 Parliamentary Election brought further major shifts and a swing to the right. The new government was formed by Janez Janša, the leader of a right-wing coalition. For the first time in Slovenia's history, the President and the Prime Minister would represent opposing political blocks for more than a few months. At the beginning, Drnovšek, who at the time was battling cancer, mostly stayed out of public sight. On reappearing in late 2005, he had changed his lifestyle; he became a vegan, moved out of the capital into the countryside and withdrew from party politics completely, quitting his already frozen membership at the Liberal Democrats. Instead, he embraced a more mystical approach to the politics, earning a nickname "Slovenia's Ghandi" from one of the comentators.[8][9]

The relations between Drnovšek and the Government quickly became strained, with the President publicly criticising government policy of the monopolisation of power, privatisation, and the treatment of the Strojans, a Roma family who were forced by their neighbours to relocate and were then subjected to police supervision and limitation of movement.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The frictions continued with the appointment of other state officials, including the Ombudsman and the Constitutional Court judges.[10] Further disagreements followed Drnovšek's initiatives to solve problems of the World, including Darfur conflict and the situation on Kosovo.[9] Although the President's political support suffered after his personal transformation, the polls nevertheless showed public support for the President against the increasingly unpopular Government.[11][9]

After years of speculation about his health and intentions, Janez Drnovšek announced in February 2007 that he would not run for president again.[12]

Candidates

Leading candidates

A conservative member of the European parliament and former Prime Minister of Slovenia, Lojze Peterle, announced his candidacy in November 2006 which made him the first official candidate.[13] He was endorsed by the three government right-wing parties, the New Slovenia (NSi), the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), and the Slovenian People's Party (SLS).[14]

Drnovšek's announcement that he would not run for president again led to expectations that the Social Democrats (SD) would nominate their leader Borut Pahor. Pahor himself confirmed that he is ready to run for the office.[15][16] The Social Democrats had by that time become the most popular party in opinion polls and were considered the likely winners at the next general elections in 2008; opinion polls indicated that Pahor would easily win the presidential election.[17] However, after months of mixed signals, Pahor finally announced that he would instead concentrate on the general elections and would not run for the mostly ceremonial office of the president.[18]

Instead, Social Democrats nominated Danilo Türk, a former Slovenian ambassador, high official in the United Nations, and a professor at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Law.[19] He was also endorsed by Zares, a splinter party made up of many of the members of parliament who left the Liberal Democracy, which quickly disintegrated in opposition after 10 years in government,[20] and the pensioners' party DeSUS.[21] Türk also gained support from two non-parliamentary parties, Active Slovenia (AS) and Party of Ecological Movements (SEG).[22]

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) nominated Mitja Gaspari, the former Governor of the Bank of Slovenia.[23] Gaspari earlier held talks about the candidacy with the Social Democrats. Türk was discussing candidacy with the Liberal Democracy, as well.[23]

The Slovenian National Party (SNS) nominated its leader, Zmago Jelinčič,[24] who had already run for the office at the 2002 elections, finishing third with 8.51% of the votes.[7]

Early polls indicated that Peterle, who had been campaigning for months and cultivated the image of a "man of the people", would win the election in a run-off against Türk or possibly Gaspari.[25][26]


Other candidates

Other candidates, none of whom were expected to win a significant share of votes, were Darko Krajnc of the formerly parliamentarian Youth Party of Slovenia, the disabled rights activist Elena Pečarič, and Monika Piberl, supported by the Women's Voice of Slovenia party.[27]

Several other candidates publicly announced their intention to run for the office. Jože Andrejaš, Jožef Horvat, Matej Sedmak, Marjan Beranič, Marko Kožar and Pavel Premrl failed to gather sufficient public support or later decided to retreat from the race.[28]

Artur Štern, after leading a burlesque campaign, announced that he was in fact performing a media experiment in order to make a movie addressing the fact that there are no minimum requirements to announce candidacy.[29]

Requirements for candidacy

Each political party can support only one candidate. Two or more parties can support a single candidate together. Such a candidacy has to be supported by three members of the parliament or by 3000 voters. The other option is to run with public support; in such case, 5000 support votes are required.[30]

Zmago Jelinčič and Elena Pečarič both filed their candidacies supported by members of the parliament. Jelinčič was supported by his fellow party members [31] while Pečarič was supported by non-aligned Majda Širca, independent Slavko Gaber and Roberto Battelli, representative of the Italian minority in Slovenia.[32]

Independent candidates Peterle, Türk and Gaspari all managed to collect the support votes with Peterle reaching the required number in the first 4 hours of collecting.[31] Krajnc and Piberl were supported by political parties so they only needed to collect 3000 support votes.[33][34]

First round campaign

The official election campaign started in late September 2007. The campaigns of the three front runners were based mostly on the personal appeal of the candidates, with few concrete statements about political issues. Zmago Jelinčič led a lively campaign, denouncing the front runners, the Government, the ethnic minorities, and the Catholic church, and demanding an aggressive policy towards the neighbouring Croatia.[35]

Topics discussed at televised debates included the rules governing the voting of non-resident nationals, which had been changed by the National Electoral Commission during the campaign This resulted in voting materials being sent to all non-residents entered in the electoral register and not merely to those who requested them, as had been the previous practice. Opposition parties opposed this move because of the lack of reliable records of the voter's addresses and because the rules were changed after the campaign had already started.[36] They particularly opposed the change since the voters from abroad seem to favor right-wing parties so they could change the result in favour of Peterle if the result was close.[37]

The campaign was overshadowed by other political events. A Petition Against Censorship and Political Pressures on Journalists in Slovenia, alleging government meddling in journalism, was started by journalists Matej Šurc and Blaž Zgaga during the summer and signed by hundreds of Slovenian journalists from the major media.[38] It was sent to the heads of state, prime ministers and parliamentary speakers of all EU member states during the presidential election campaign. Following the petition, the International Press Institute (IPI) sent a fact-finding mission to Ljubljana in November, to discuss the claims made in the petition with members of the Slovenian media. The contents of the mission’s report remain confidential, although IPI publicly called for (as it had before) the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the claims made.[39]

Another event which attracted much debate was the Supreme Court's annulment of the 1946 conviction of Gregorij Rožman, effectively rehabilitating the Catholic bishop who had been found guilty of war crimes and treason during WWII for his collaboration with the Italian and later German occupation forces. After several attempts to review the trial had failed during the 1990s, Janša's government changed the law to allow religious organisations to request a review of trials of their deceased members, an instrument which was previously reserved for close relatives. After the Archdiocese of Ljubljana initiated the review, the Supreme Court annulled the 1946 trial on procedural grounds, causing much controversy. This proved harmful for Peterle's campaign, as he is closely associated with the Catholic Church.[40][41] When asked about the Rožman case in a TV debate, Peterle confined himself to remarking that he was a supporter of the rule of law, that the war had divided the nation and that Rožman had played some part in that.[42]

The last opinion polls published before the first round predicted that Peterle would win 40% of the vote and go to the run-off against either Türk or Gaspari, both at 20-25%, with most polls predicting a substantially larger share for Türk.[43]

First round results and reactions

The first round, held on October 21, brought unexpected results. Contrary to predictions, Peterle won less than 29% of the vote, with Türk and Gaspari finishing close second and third, respectively. Jelinčič, who according to opinion polls was expected to win around 12% of the vote, actually won over 20%, finishing first in two of Slovenia's eight electoral units.[5]

Prime Minister Janez Janša blamed Peterle's poor showing on "certain topics" that were brought up during the campaign by "hidden centres of power", referring to the journalists' petition and the timing of the Supreme Court's decision.[44]

Run-off campaign

Run-off elections ballot

Following the unexpected results of the first round, new opinion polls showed major changes, giving Türk a large lead over Peterle.[45] Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, which supported Gaspari in the first round announced it would support Türk in the second.[46]

After the surprise gains of the flamboyant Zmago Jelinčič in the first round, the campaigns of both candidates opted for more concrete political statements in public campaigning and debates. Peterle replaced the head of his campaign, and concentrated on questioning Türk's role in the 1991 secession from Yugoslavia, alleging that at the time when Peterle as the Prime Minister struggled for Slovenia's independence, Türk continued to act as an official representative of Yugoslavia in international institutions.[47] The campaign was backed by the Prime Minister Janša and the Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel who went so far as to confirm Peterle's claims on the Foreign Ministry's official website.[48]

Türk denied the allegations, pointing to his opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune advocating international recognition of Slovenia, and the fact that it was Rupel himself who in 1992 appointed Türk as the Ambassador to the UN and praised him for his service to the country.[47][49]

The new strategy appeared to backfire, and the polls before the run-off predicted that Türk would win between 63% and over 70% of the vote.[50][51]

Final results and reactions

The run-off was held on 11 November 2007. Exit poll results published at the closing of the vote predicted a victory for Türk, with 69% of the vote.[52][53] Peterle conceded immediately. In his first statemens, Peterle said his defeat was a vote against the ruling Janša government, and that "under the given circumstances" his result was "not that bad".[53] By midnight, unofficial results from the Electoral Commission gave Türk a lead of 68% vs. 32%, with Peterle narrowly winning in four of Slovenia's 88 electoral districts.[5]

Two days after the election, Prime Minister Janša announced that he might resign following what was perceived as a heavy defeat for the Government: "We will analyze the situation further, but all possibilities are open, including a resignation of the Government." He said that "it is particularly worrying that a lot of energy was invested in blackening the Government abroad," claiming his opponents portrayed Slovenia "as Belarus" or some other authoritarian country. The opposition parties said that talk of resignation just weeks before Slovenia took over European Union presidency presidency was irresponsible and unwise,[54] but the Prime Minister called a vote of confidence for 19 November 2007.[55] The Government won the confidence vote, but support for the ruling SDS subsequently achieved its all-time low rating, with only 18% of voters intending to vote for it in the fall 2008 election.[56]

On December 22, Türk was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Slovenia. In his inaugural, he thanked his predecessor Janez Drnovšek for his contribution to success and respect of Slovenia. Later, he also stated that he would work closely with Janša's government during Slovenia's six-month EU presidency.[57]

Detailed results

Template:Slovenian presidential election, 2007

External links

References

  1. ^ "Slovenian presidential election to be held in October", Xinhua (People's Daily Online), July 20, 2007.
  2. ^ "Slowenien: Wahlkampf mit Bier, ohne harte Bandagen", diepresse.com, October 17, 2007 Template:De icon.
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  4. ^ "Sedem kandidatov na volitve". 24ur.com. September 27 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d "Volitve predsednika republike 2007". November 11 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Slovenia Country Brief". Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  7. ^ a b "Poročilo o izidu volitev predsednika republike". Republiška volilna komisija. December 10 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Slovenian President Finds Peace and Wants to Share It". New York Times. September 9 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b c "All hail the mystic President". Times Online. November 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  10. ^ "Zdenka Cebasek Travnik Appointed Ombudsman". Republika Slovenija, Human rights ombudsman. December 20 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Lepotica in zver". Mladina. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  12. ^ "Drnovšek ne bo znova kandidiral". Rtvslo.si. June 26 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Peterle kandidat za predsednika države". Rtvslo.si. November 2 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Enotna podpora Peterletu". 24ur.com. June 15 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Pahor pripravljen kandidirati za predsednika države". Finance. March 31 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Pahor bi kandidiral za predsednika". 24ur.com. March 4 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Pahor vodi v bitki za predsednika". 24ur.com. May 26 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Pahor s SD-jem na parlamentarne volitve". Rtvslo.si. June 22 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Türk tudi uradno s podporo SD-ja". Rtvslo.si. July 13 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "Tudi v Zares bodo podprli Türka". Finance. July 12 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "DeSUS soglasno za Danila Türka". Rtvslo.si. August 27 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Gaspari in Türk začenjata kampanjo". Rtvslo.si. July 26 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ a b "Gaspari z LDS v predsedniško tekmo". Rtvslo.si. June 30 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ "Jelinčič bi bil rad Drnovšek". Finance. May 25 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Jelinčič najbolj napredoval". 24ur.com. October 6 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ "Christian Democrat Lojze Peterle – Slovenia's likely new president". wieninternational.at. September 18 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Zakaj so kandidirali?". 24ur.com. August 21 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ "Predsedniške volitve 2007". Žurnal24. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  29. ^ "Šternova filmska kampanja". 24ur.com. September 13 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ "Zakon o volitvah predsednika republike (ZVPR)". Uradni list RS, št. 39/1992. August 7 1992. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ a b "Peterle in Jelinčič prva uradna kandidata". Žurnal24. September 6 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ "Pečaričeva peta kandidatka". Žurnal24. September 20 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)h
  33. ^ "Krajnc vložil kandidaturo". 24ur.com. September 25 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  34. ^ "Monika Piberl kot sedma v boj". Finance. October 1 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ "Jelinčič: Slovenija potrebuje patriota". Rtvslo.si. September 20 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ "Opozicijski poslanci izpodbijajo določbo o glasovanju iz tujine". Dnevnik. June 18 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ "Kaj bo, če bo tisoč glasov razlike?". Mladina. 2007/42. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. ^ "Peticija zoper cenzuro". Matej Šurc, Blaž Zgaga. October 21 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. ^ "World Press Freedom Review". International Press Institute. 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  40. ^ "[Peterle] is a very devout practicing Catholic". Writing in Družina, the newspaper of the Catholic Church in Slovenia, Peterle said "Christians in politics will shape the new face of European politics".
  41. ^ One of the factors which contributed to the resounding defeat of Bajuk's government was the participation of several leading members of the coalition in a ceremony in June 2000, honoring those who had collaborated with the Nazis during WW II and rejecting as "absurd" the Partisan resistance against the Axis occupation. Among those attending the ceremony, where the anthems of the collaborationist Home Guards were sung, were (reportedly) Prime Minister Andrej Bajuk, Assembly Speaker Janez Podobnik, Defense Minister Janez Janša, Foreign Minister Lojze Peterle, and Archbishop Franc Rode. See http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1422&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=8506&group_id=7427
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  43. ^ ""Peterle First, But Run-Off Likely in Slovenia"". Angus Reid Global Monitor. September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
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  52. ^ "Türku visoka zmaga za najvišji položaj". Rtvslo.si. November 11 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  54. ^ "Slovenia's PM: Cabinet might resign after opposition candidate elected president". International Herald Tribune. November 13, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
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  57. ^ "Türk prisegel kot predsednik države". Rtvslo.si. December 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
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