Newcomers look to upend partisan politics in Slovenia

The election campaign in Slovenia is in full swing despite the next general election being at least four and a half months away. The latest polls show smaller parties left, and right could upend the balance of power, reflecting deep voter discontent with the highly polarised political scene.

Two recent national polls by the pollsters Median and Ninamedia have shown that newcomers have significant electoral potential, and several parties could exceed the 4% threshold needed to enter parliament.

On the right, the centrist party of Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek has joined forces with a small pro-business party and is building a centrist coalition with several political veterans. Polls show this coalition has a decent chance in the election.

Aleksandra Pivec, who resigned as agriculture minister in the former government under a shadow of scandal, is trying to reinvent herself as a centrist to bridge the left-wide divide. This strategy is also showing some potential in the polls.

On the left, energy CEO Robert Golob, who has portrayed himself as a victim of government purges after failing to get appointed for a new term at the helm of Gen-I, has announced he will enter politics. His as of yet non-existent movement immediately jumped to third place in last week’s Ninamedia poll.

The polls show the up-and-coming players are chipping away in particular at the ratings of the coalition Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi), and the opposition Left and LMŠ, the party of former prime minister Marjan Šarec.

The Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS), a small yet influential player, slowly self-destructing amidst a year-long fight between the party leadership and its MPs and disappearing from the polls, is also making sure things remain wide open.

However, some analysts warn against premature conclusions given how early in the electoral race it is, seeing the latest polls merely as a reflection of the government’s deep unpopularity.

As one analyst, Andraž Zorko, put it on Twitter, even if voters were given the option of picking a “Green Baby Dragon Party”, it would outperform the majority of established players in the opinion polls.

(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)