By: Dr Metod Berlec
The results of the first round of the presidential elections are known. After 99.99 percent of the ballots were counted, the first place was taken by the former foreign minister and SDS MP Dr Anže Logar. He celebrated with 33.96% support in all eight constituencies. Lawyer Nataša Pirc Musar took second place. With 26.86% support, she will face Logar in the second round. 15.4% of the voters voted for Milan Brglez, the third-placed MEP. The fourth place was occupied by the mayor of Kočevje, Vladimir Prebilič, who received 10.66% of the votes, gynaecologist Sabina Senčar was in the fifth place (5.96% of the votes), a member of the NSi Janez Cigler Kralj was in the sixth place (4.35% of the votes), and the candidate of the Levica took the shameful last place, MP Miha Kordiš (2.8% of votes). Voter turnout was 51.07%, which is more than five years ago (at that time it was 44.22% in the first round).
Undoubtedly, Anže Logar, who ran with the signatures of citizens and the support of SDS and SLS, can be satisfied with what he has achieved. He convinced by far the largest number of voters with his calm, competent and unifying performances. He did not allow himself to be provoked by the dominant media, but at the same time he showed the positive energy that is necessary to assume such an important state function as the position of the president of the republic. In the second half of the presidential campaign, he will have to continue in this style, because unlike the representative of the transition capital network, Nataša Pirc Musar, he does not have a heavy baggage. As a politician, MP, and minister, he has a lot of positive things to show, which gives him an advantage in these security-turbulent times, when we now have a man in the position of Prime Minister who is not up to the position domestically, let alone internationally, when we are facing a military conflict in Ukraine, which already has elements of (third) World War.
Nataša Pirc Musar is a completely different story. Although she appears as an independent presidential candidate, she is anything but that, as she was supported by former presidents of the country with a communist pedigree – Milan Kučan (the last president of the Central Committee of the ZKS) and Danilo Türk (in the previous regime, he worked within the structures of the SZDL). At the same time, even as an information officer, she proved herself to be a loyal cadre of the transitional left, and she was very happy to engage in critical media, in this particular case, the magazine you are reading. In addition, she is burdened by the business of her husband Aleš Musar (he started his real business career in the Pid empire of Aktiva Darko Horvat, who about a decade ago left around 170 million euros in unpaid debts to Slovenian banks, and then literally flew abroad), which we warned in this magazine several times. Economist Rado Pezdir pointed out new controversial facts in connection with Musar on Saturday in the Beremo programme on Nova24TV. During the pre-election campaign for the country’s president, Pirc Musar used the excuse that she does not know anything about her husband’s affairs, that they do not talk about it at home. Pezdir said that the owner of the company bears the responsibility, the argument “I did not know” is not sufficient under Slovenian legislation. Pirc Musar is the co-owner of Ruska Dača company, which is part of a business network controlled by her husband, using various fiduciary accounts and tax havens. In short, she is a candidate who is a representative of a so-called red bourgeoisie and does not even come close to representing the values that true leftists stand for.
The big loser of the first round of the presidential elections is MEP Milan Brglez, who appeared with the support of the Gibanje Svoboda and SD parties. Together with him, the Prime Minister and the President of the GS Robert Golob, and the President of the SD and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon are the big losers, who firmly and clearly supported him before the first round. It can be seen that they do not have the right political instinct, as Brglez entered the pre-election race too late, and it was already widely known that televised confrontations do him more harm than good. After the fiasco with Brglez, both Golob and Fajon supported Nataša Pirc Musar, but she was not impressed by their support, as she neither needs nor is bothered by the “partycracy”, which is a phrase often used by her main supporter in the past, the last Party boss Kučan. On Sunday evening, however, Golob indulged in a scandalous statement when he initially spoke of the election as a celebration of democracy, and then literally said: “We will know the loser in the second round. And I already know today who the loser in the second round will be. /…/ We will certainly not allow the SDS candidate to enter the presidential palace. Because that would be something that would return Slovenia to the dark times of the last two years, and certainly nobody wants that.” Really. What about the almost 300,000 voters who came to the polls on Sunday and supported Logar? Does that not count? Undoubtedly, it is a statement that even the greatest dictators would not be ashamed of.
And what about the rest of the presidential candidates? Vladimir Prebilič achieved a solid result, the same applies to Sabina Senčar. Janez Cigler Kralj and Miha Kordiš achieved much less than expected. The parties that supported them (NSi and Levica) did themselves a disservice. However, according to inside information from these two parties, it is obvious that some within both parties are satisfied that they were unwisely politically “scorched” … More on that on another occasion.
