By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
“Milan Brglez’s major electoral defeat is above all the fiasco of Robert Golob (Prime Minister and President of the Freedom Movement party – Gibanje Svoboda) and Tanja Fajon (Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Social Democrats party – Socialni Demokrati). The figures also prove this, and Golob’s narrative about the victory of the phantom “centre-left” is, therefore, just a fairy tale, created to convince the pure left-wing bubble. Perhaps it is intended especially for Golob, who for the first time since the elections to the National Assembly, which happened in April, has weighed his political worth, proving that his support is de facto not even worth 15 percent of the vote,” pointed out investigative journalist Bojan Požar in his reaction to the results of the first round of the presidential elections.
The voters have decided that Anže Logar and Nataša Pirc Musar will compete in the second round of the battle for the position of President of the Republic. Namely, Logar received 33.96 percent of the vote, and Pirc Musar received 26.87 percent. Third place went to the candidate of the Freedom Movement and Social Democrats parties, Milan Brglez (who got 15.41 percent of the vote), followed by Vladimir Prebilič (10.66 percent), Sabina Senčar (5.95 percent), Janez Cigler Kralj (4.35 percent) and Miha Kordiš (2.80 percent).
“Robert Golob has suffered his first political defeat, his candidate Brglez was not even close to entering the second round of the elections. The second loser is Miha Kordiš, who apparently got very few votes, despite his bicycling, Nika Kovač’s support, and the two very powerful ministers that his party, the Left (Levica), has in the government. The third loser of the day is the Social Democrats party (SD), which has so far had two presidents officially (and it actually had three), including the current one, but has now played the wrong card,” political analyst and editor-in-chief of the weekly Domovina (Homeland), Tino Mamić, pointed out in his reaction to the elections on Twitter.
Mamić believes that the most meaningless statements are those of the candidates who did not make it to the second round and are now saying how happy they are with the results because this is a proportional success. “It is not a success. It is a defeat, full stop,” Mamić was clear. “The New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi) made a mistake by choosing Janez Cigler Kralj as its candidate. It is true that this was mainly due to the tactical voting of the party’s loyal voters, but this is something that they could have predicted.” He also pointed out that Nataša Pirc Musar said that she wants a respectful campaign, but in the very next sentence, she already started to spread fear of Janez Janša. “Predictably boring, but at the same time also harmful to democracy.” On the latter, political analyst Dr Miro Haček remarked to Mamić: “Now she clearly needs all the support of the leftists and the Left party, and suddenly she will no longer be an independent candidate. #predictable.” “Things are really completely mixed up in our country. The candidate (Mr Brglez) has the right to say who he will support in the second round, but not the two presidents of parties that supported him… Ah, the partocracy,” Haček commented on the endorsements by Fajon and Golob.
According to journalist Bojan Požar, the winner of the first half of the presidential election is definitely Logar, who was officially an independent candidate with the support of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) and the Slovenian People’s Party (Slovenska ljudska stranka – SLS). In his article, Požar pointed out that Logar won more votes in the first round of the 2002 elections than his opponent Barbara Brezigar and more than Lojze Peterle in the first round of the 2007 elections. “It seems that the centre-right could now win the Presidency of the Republic for the first time. But the real media and other cannonades, dominated by accusations that he is carrying Janez Janša’s backpack, is yet to come for Logar,” he stressed, adding that it should be expected for things to get quite brutal. Logar will now be a target, which is something that has so far been happening to Janez Janša.
According to Požar, Logar is not Janša, and nor is it Janša who represents the candidate for the position of President of the Republic, but Logar. “Given Logar’s distinctly cohesive and generally stoic stance during the election campaign so far, the question is whether the expected cannonade from the left will have the opposite effect and make Logar an electable victim.” Požar points out that Musar’s qualification for the second round is actually a small victory of the “regular retiree” Milan Kučan. Namely, he is convinced that without Kučan’s support, she would not have been considered a serious candidate at all. Kučan thus beat Golob, which is not insignificant for his ego. But in doing so, he also proved that the former President of the Republic and the last President of the Communist Party of Slovenia continues to “pull the key strings on the centre-left, even if only from one or two Ljubljana bars.”
According to Požar, this was the first time after the April elections to the National Assembly that Golob weighed his political worth and proved that his support is de facto not even worth 15 percent of the vote. The reaction of Golob and Fajon to the results is, according to Požar, unbelievable. “Fajon is now carelessly declaring every election result a victory, even though it is clear to everyone that this is a great defeat.” Since Golob even made direct threats in his response to the result and made it clear how he apparently knows who will win in the end, Požar commented that Golob seems to be unaware of the weight of his words since he is now the Prime Minister and no longer just the President of the Management Board of the Gen-I energy company. “However, the Freedom Movement party already hurried up last night and officially announced its support for Pirc Musar, just like Fajon did – unofficially.” According to Požar, this turns Pirc Musar into a party candidate. “Which, to tell you the truth, she already was before, with the support of the radical Pirates party (Pirati) and the Youth Party of Slovenia – European Greens (Stranka Mladih Slovenije – Zeleni Evrope). But whether Nataša Pirc Musar will really benefit from the support of the Freedom Movement and the Social Democrats is the big question now. Because Nataša Pirc Musar is not really a leftist at all, but rather, “leftism” is her career choice.”
Meanwhile, Senčar had managed to bring a “solid crowd of voters to the elections, who were convinced not only by her anti-vax stance, but also by her public television appearances,” he said, adding that although Prebilič was defeated, his presidential campaign had undoubtedly secured his victory in the mayoral elections in Kočevje, where he won 67 percent of the local vote at the presidential elections, and gained a wider public profile.
According to Požar, the election results of Janez Cigler Kralj (NSi) and Miha Kordiš (the Left) are a setback for their parties, as they also went to the polls to promote their own parties. “However, Kordiš’s poor election result is certainly satisfactory to the coordinator of the Left party and Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Luka Mesec. Meanwhile, Kordiš’s poor result is also a slap in the face for all those opinion leaders who, during the analyses of the TV pre-election debates, proclaimed Kordiš to be a great rhetorician and even a thinker.”