By: Dr. Matevž Tomšič
What had already begun as a farce turned into a complete disgrace. You guessed it, we are talking about the recently staged constructive no confidence vote of the left wing opposition with the name KUL, with which it wanted to overthrow the government of Janez Janša. It was clear in advance that the attempt was doomed for failure. The proposers did not even come close to the required forty-six votes of support. And apparently they even knew themselves that they have no chance. Anyone who looked at the faces of the presidents and MPs of these parties before the vote could not detect the slightest bit of optimism in them. Even their appearances in the parliament, starting with the presentation of the candidate for prime minister, were extremely anaemic. It seemed as if they were justifying their defeat in advance and hoping the failure would not be too great. Thus, SAB MP Maša Kociper let it slip that it would be “ideal” to get forty-three votes (which, of course, would still not be enough). However, they did not even succeed in that.
The whole story on which the “no confidence vote” was based on, is fabricated through and through. The constitution and its principles (which the government undermines) are referred to by a group, of which a member is the Levica Party, which in its programme advocates nothing less than the nationalisation of companies. That is, the deprivation of the right to dispose of one’s property, which is a constitutionally protected category. This means that this party is in favour of solutions that are clearly unconstitutional. And the fact that this does not bother its partners in KUL also says a lot about their attitude towards the constitution. Authoritarianism and disrespect for dissidents are blamed on the government by those who excluded individuals from their parties (such as the mayor of Ilirska Bistrica, Emil Rojc, or MP Robert Polnar), who criticised the decisions of party leaders. Definitely democratic! And control of the media is blamed on the government by the political option that has dominated the vast majority of the Slovenian media space for decades – as it is convinced that it simply belongs to it (remember the slogan “RTV is ours”).
Moreover, a special “pearl” is their – now failed – Prime Minister candidate Karl Erjavec. He is a man who is synonymous with political unprincipledness and dishonesty. He replaced quite a few parties in his career until he “nested” in the DeSUS party. When he was defeated in a race to lead the party last year, he announced his final departure from politics. But after a few months, he changed his mind and decided to return. Before returning to the helm of the party, he promised his MPs that the party would remain in government. But immediately after his election as president, he changed his mind and joined the left wing opposition in overthrowing the government, as he saw himself as Prime Minister. He then said he would agree to the candidacy only if he gets a majority of MP signatures. But he changed his mind. He then filed a candidacy, but withdrew it, and re-filed it. Is such a man supposed to lead the government during the greatest crisis after independence?
In general, the whole behaviour of the KUL members was completely schizophrenic. Filing and withdrawing the no confidence vote. And at the same time, serial filing of interpellations. It is an act that is illogical. Why interpolate individual ministers if there is a desire to replace the government as a whole? In addition, by announcing interpellations against ministers from all three government parties, they only unified the coalition (this was shown in the no confidence vote).
In fact, the failure of no confidence vote against the Janša government is a major blow not only to its filers, but especially to their “task-givers”, that is, to the centres of power that make up the post-communist deep state. After months of preparations, a complete media offensive, and the activation of an entire network of supporters, they eventually bombed. They were unable to repeat what they did in 2012. This means that the power of the political backstage is slowly but surely waning.
Matevž Tomšič is a sociologist, university lecturer and publicist. Since 2008 he has been teaching and researching at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Nova Gorica. In addition, he is also engaged at the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto and at the Faculty of Media in Ljubljana. He is also a collaborator of the Study Center for National Reconciliation and president of the Association of Journalists and Publicists.