Slovenia before the election: will a newcomer oust “Marshall Twito”?

Slovenia is electing a new parliament, and the controversial Prime Minister Janša is worried about a newcomer: Ex-manager Golob could win the election – although, unlike Janša, he is reticent on social media.

21 lists, 1,400 candidates – but there are two names in particular that will ultimately matter in the parliamentary elections in Slovenia: Janez Janša and Robert Golob. Janša is the current Prime Minister, right-wing conservative, controversial, in the center for more than three decades or at least never far from power, a man from the very beginning:

As Defense Minister he organized the resistance against the Yugoslav People’s Army in 1991, and the 63-year-old still benefits from the image of the fearless war hero today. Although he was recently rather gentle and occasionally softened, he also posted family pictures and Easter eggs on Instagram.

He reacted sensitively, almost thin-skinned, to criticism from the opposition during the election campaign, only to then explain that the second part of the legislative period with him and his SDS at the helm was much better than the first part under the left-liberal minority government that collapsed in early 2020 . And during the election campaign she “only saw everything negatively and only criticized”.

Long list of allegations and scandals

Slovenia has not coped well with the corona pandemic, which began at the same time as Janša was about to start his third term in office. In relation to the number of inhabitants, there were many more Covid deaths than in Germany, for example. Numerous protective measures did not stand up in court, corruption affairs, allegations of repression and mass protests weighed on the government and confidence in politics.

This week, Agriculture Minister Joze Podgoršek had to resign from coalition partner New Slovenia, albeit because of an unpaid hotel bill. Bigger scandals were when Janša congratulated Donald Trump on his fake election victory at the end of 2020 and showed understanding for Poland and Hungary in the rule of law dispute with the EU.

Proximity to Orban

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is close to him anyway, and critics see great parallels. Janša tried again and again to bring the police, the judiciary, the authorities and the media into line – his line – often successfully, repeatedly creating anti-immigrant sentiment.

Unlike Orbán, however, Janša has now clearly distanced himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin, stands firmly on the side of Ukraine – sometimes with a blue and yellow tie – went to Kyiv earlier than others and before that brought the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the second half of the year 2021 without any major mistakes across the stage.

Because the country is also doing well economically, CSU Vice President Manfred Weber from the joint EPP group in Brussels made a clear recommendation for the SDS this week.

A new candidate is stirring up the field

Weber and Janša’s hopes could most likely be destroyed by a man who, with his unconventionally wild curly hairstyle, is not just the opposite of Janšas, who is almost bald, on the outside. His name: Robert Golob.

Golob assesses the situation like this: We shouldn’t wait any longer, he says – “it’s high time that we, who want to live in a normal state, wake up and put ourselves at the head of this state, because that’s what people expect from us. “

Rapid rise

The energy expert has risen rapidly in just a few months, and Jansa probably has a part to play in this. Golob had to vacate the top post of the state energy company in the fall, for which he blamed the prime minister.

Since then, the 55-year-old has concentrated entirely on politics, taking over a small green party and renaming it the “Movement of Freedom”. His goals are a climate-friendly economic policy, a quick move away from fossil fuels, more democracy.

Broad spectrum candidate

Golob is more to the left in socio-political terms, but more right-liberal on economic issues – his own, apparently quite high salary as an electricity manager was the subject of discussions. Under no circumstances does he want to work with Janša, but rather closely with NGOs and civil society. The centre-left camp is behind him.

However, a corona infection threw him back in the final spurt of the election campaign, and he limited himself a little online. While Janša – nicknamed “Marshal Twito”, in reference to the long-term Yugoslav head of state Tito – has already run many tough campaigns on Twitter, Golob rejects it network categorically.