By: Bogdan Sajovic
The legislative referendum on the law concerning a pension supplement for exceptional achievements in the field of art (ZDPIDU) has concluded, and the result is catastrophic for the government.
The law was rejected by a staggering 92 percent of voters – making it the worst referendum defeat of any government in independent Slovenia. The only proper course of action would be for Prime Minister Robert Golob to resign no later than tomorrow.
He has only himself to blame for the debacle. First, as Prime Minister, he approved the law – hastily cobbled together by the Ministry of Culture under the leadership of Minister Asta Vrečko – even though many warned that it was a poorly written mess. Of course, as Prime Minister, he could have rejected it, but he did not. Instead, he endorsed it with the authority of his office and enabled its adoption.
The opposition then gathered enough support to call for a referendum – a completely legal political move.
Prime Minister Golob then made the most reckless political decision possible: instead of defending the law and urging his supporters to vote for it, he called for a boycott of the referendum. And with that, he dug his own grave.
The boycott failed, and the law was rejected by 92 percent of voters! It does not matter that the Prime Minister’s defenders will now claim that only a little over a quarter of eligible voters participated. What matters is those who did show up and how they voted – and for the government, this result is a devastating failure.
The decent thing would have been for the Minister to offer her resignation immediately after the disastrous result was announced, with the Prime Minister following shortly after. That is how any leader in a normal European democracy would behave.
But since there is serious doubt that Prime Minister Golob possesses the integrity and political decency to resign on his own, it is up to the opposition, the media, and the voters to call on him to do so.
Mr. Prime Minister, resign!