In the Slovenian early parliamentary elections Levica (The Left) – a party that stands for democratic eco-socialism – won almost double-digit share of votes.
According to preliminary exit polls, right wing anti-immigrant Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by Janez Janša won the parliamentary elections.
The majority of political parties which are above the electoral threshold can hardly be seen as a guarantee of better life for the lower classes of Slovenian society. Though, for all the people with progressive political aspirations, electoral success of recently formed The Left will seem promising.
With around 9.3% of votes won, which makes nine parliament seats, The Left will become one of the five strongest parties in the Slovenian parliament.
The Left was formed in 2017, when the Initiative for Democratic Socialism and the Party for Sustainable Growth of Slovenia merged. It is the successor of United Left, a former electoral coalition that had won six seats in the 2014 Parliamentary Elections.
The Left is a party that calls for the transformation of society on the principles of democratic eco-socialism.
Since the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia The Left is the first, and for now the only, party with the clear left-wing orientation that has had success in the parliamentary elections in any of the former Yugoslav Republics.
Nevertheless, the question to be answered is: how and will the future governing coalition be formed? Namely, Janez Janša’s SDS will have around 25 parliament seats, but it takes 46 seats for the majority government. Because of the very fragmented ballot and a high number of parties above the electoral threshold – maybe even up to ten – collecting the necessary parliament seats might prove to be a difficult task.
Translation from Serbian: Tamara Baković Jadžić
This article was originally published in Serbian on June 3, 2018.
