By: Dr Metod Berlec
The Super Referendum Sunday demonstrated strong engagement from both right-wing and left-wing voters. With nearly 100% of votes counted, totalling more than 927,000 ballots cast for each referendum question, it is clear that voters made what many would consider the most common-sense choices regarding the referendum on conditioning social assistance benefits on participation in community service and the proposal to revoke local voting rights for non-EU foreign nationals. More than 60% supported the first measure, while just over 55% backed the second. A victory for the governing coalition.
However, left-wing propaganda found its most fertile ground in the referendum on amendments to the law governing parliamentary commissions of inquiry. In what left-wing campaigners portrayed as a vote on a political police force, just over 51% of voters rejected the proposal. The result regarding the abolition of the mandatory RTV licence fee was almost perfectly balanced, with supporters of maintaining the fee prevailing by only a few hundred votes, if that. It is clear that RTV Slovenia played a key propaganda role in this outcome. Following the so-called “depoliticization” carried out during the Golob government, and continuing today, the broadcaster has operated in a one-sided manner, favouring the transitional left. This bias was particularly evident during the referendum campaign. The Association of Journalists and Publicists (ZNP) also drew attention to this issue: “An analysis published on the website www.stehtajmo.si showed, for example, that MMC, RTV Slovenia’s main news portal, devoted four times more coverage and airtime to opponents of all four referendum questions than to their supporters. Such blatant bias on the part of RTV Slovenia is unacceptable and contrary to both the law and the broadcaster’s own statutes. It raises serious concerns about the misuse of a public media institution funded by all citizens and legally required to provide impartial, credible, and pluralistic information.”
For this reason, it is entirely appropriate for the centre-right governing coalition to continue adopting legislation aimed at freeing the public broadcaster from the grip of left-wing activists. Of course, not everything depends on RTV Slovenia, whose audience consists mainly of older generations. A decisive role in defeating the amendment on parliamentary commissions of inquiry was played by so-called left-wing NGOs and trade unions, which once again demonstrated that they function as the transitional left’s true foot soldiers. It appears that the previous governing coalition’s extensive taxpayer-funded support of these organisations paid off. Without them, the opposition parties (Freedom Movement, Social Democrats, and The Left) would have fared very poorly. According to Prime Minister and SDS leader Janez Janša, the referendums delivered four important messages:
“Most people value work and believe that decisions about Slovenia should be made by Slovenians. Half of the electorate believes that only the political right should be investigated and that funding for the far-left RTV Slovenia must remain mandatory. Overall, Slovenia passed a trial test of common sense, but only just. Across all four referendums combined, there were 270,000 more votes in favour than against. The decisive battle for a successful and fair Slovenia will come in December, when we vote on the Development Act.” According to Janša, that referendum will determine Slovenia’s future direction. “We will do everything we can to ensure it is the right one.”