One of the reasons for the frenzy of the political underground against the Janša’s government, with the assistance of the national broadcaster RTV, is primarily the fact, that most people trust the government and support its measures to curb the COVID-19 epidemic. A public opinion poll, made by agency Parsifal in late April, also showed this. A poll of 775 respondents showed that as many as 79.3 percent said, that the government had taken right measures, to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, so far. Not only that, even more respondents – as many as 87.2 percent – think, that the Slovenian government is successful in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.
This, of course, means that the Slovenian public perceives the success of the government in the fight against the new coronavirus and that the news, that Slovenia is ranked among the successful countries in this field in the international arena, is not fake. There are two things that are crucial, however: the direct safeguard measures and measures to mitigate the economic damage. Most citizens also adhered to the instructions, to prevent the spread of the infection, which is also an important factor for success. Thus, Slovenia – especially considering that it is a country bordering Italy, the most affected European country due to COVID-19 virus – is even more successful than Switzerland.
According to reports from Parsifal, the average age of the respondents was 51.9 years. The majority of respondents are from the oldest age group (42.8 percent), the middle age group is slightly less represented (37.7 percent) and the less represented is the youngest age group (19.5 percent). Most respondents have completed secondary school (34.3 percent), followed by those with completed higher education (27.8 percent), 25.1 percent of respondents have a vocational school and 12.9 percent have completed primary or incomplete primary school. Most respondents come from villages or hamlets (52 percent), followed by the city (31.3 percent) and a smaller town (16.7 percent), followed by the regions: most come from the “Osrednjeslovenska” region (27.1 percent), followed by the “Podravska” region (14.7 percent) and the “Savinjska” region (12.8 percent).
In any case, the results of the poll also explain why the transitional left political party is trying to enforce another media construct. The directors of these constructs are afraid of the government’s success and they are even more afraid of public confidence in the government, which managed to control the epidemic at a critical time.
Letter of support to the government
The Institute “Let’s awaken Slovenia”, the Slovenian Catholic Educators Association, the Assembly for the Republic and the Justice and Peace Commission, have sent an open letter of support to the Prime Minister, Janez Janša, in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. As they wrote, the work of the government is judged by the weight of the tasks entrusted to them, by the successes it achieves and by the mistakes that are inevitable in any work. The signatories reject the attempts of some representatives of the opposition parties, to try to obstruct his work through procedural procedures, only to take away his valuable time and to interfere with the urgency, required to carry out this extremely difficult task.
They also condemn the threats of all street progressives by re-erupting “people anger”, by alleviating dissatisfaction among the population, by faking news stories, by inflating the defects of the government or its subordinate services and other abuses of the democratic system. “The irresponsible and incitement of these groups and the work of opposition MPs increases social tensions and weakens the defence system of the state and society.” Therefore, they urge the media to help with their news the government, to overcome the dire consequences of the pandemic.