By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
Shortly after the government of Janez Janša took office, the left wing opposition began to do everything in its power to seize power. Not even the fact that we were in the middle of an epidemic prevented it from plotting imaginary affair and slandering the government. Namely, the desire for power was stronger. After constantly listening to how preliminary elections would be a solution for Slovenia, we are now witnessing a series of excuses since the Minister of the Interior and SDS Vice President Aleš Hojs mentioned the possibility of preliminary elections.
In the show Ena na ena (“One on One”) on POP TV, Minister Aleš Hojs said that the possibility of preliminary elections is completely justified. “I am convinced that it does not matter whether the preliminary elections are a month or two earlier or if we hold regular elections, we are practically at the end of our term,” Hojs pointed out, recalling that the preliminary elections, initiated by former Prime Minister Miro Cerar a few years ago, were also only seemingly preliminary.
Hojs said that they were talking a lot about this with Prime Minister Janez Janša, not only at the level of the SDS party leadership, but also at the SDS executive committee. Positions around this are supposedly divided after how they were “absolutely different” at the beginning of the year in the sense that it is necessary to persevere to the end. “We will also monitor the response of the public – every smart politician monitors the opinion of the people on the field, they are the ones who evaluate our work most realistically,” he said, adding that if people judge it more appropriate to go to the polls sooner, such proposals and opinions will certainly be followed.
Hojs’ words resonated in the ranks of the opposition, but not in the sense that many would think. After all, the left wing opposition has been cheering for preliminary elections all along, and now it seems like they think it would be premature. All parties are well aware that the first possible date for the National Assembly elections is April 24th, and the last possible date is June 5th. In Šarec’s LMŠ, they wrote in their own style, saying that they themselves had repeatedly said that it would be too late if the government resigned yesterday. According to them, the government would have already resigned and called elections if any serious intentions existed. “The resignation of the government and preliminary elections are, in our firm belief, the only solution to calm the situation in the country and end this agony,” they pointed out, adding how they should be prepared for the elections. They also reminded that they wanted preliminary elections at the beginning of last year, but “unfortunately some opportunists helped to form the current government”, they stated.
Nemec does not want elections in the coldest weather
MP Matjaž Nemec from the SD party claimed that they would believe Hojs’ words only when Prime Minister Janša resigned. He went on to add that he agreed with LMŠ that the government could not resign too soon because it was too late. According to him, the government supposedly lost people’s trust, so the elections are necessary in order to successfully deal with the health, economic and political crisis. “The fact is that Janša will choose the moment that suits him best. His goal is low turnout, so it would not surprise us that we will go to the polls in the coldest weather. But this bill will not work out for him, people will go to the polls because they have had enough. Slovenia wants changes,” said Nemec, adding that the party should be prepared for the elections.
The SAB insists that it is only a matter of disciplining DeSUS and SNS MPs
Alenka Bratušek’s SAB announced that they have been supporting preliminary elections since the end of the previous government, which can only take place with Janša’s resignation, which, according to them, will not happen. They say that they understand Hojs’ statement as a way of disciplining SNS and DeSUS MPs who did not “blindly follow the proposals of the government and the coalition” in the last votes. The coordinator of the Levica party, Luka Mesec, stated that he did not trust Minister Hojs often, but that this time he did. “No one can deny that the situation in Slovenia has derailed, that the government is no longer in control of this crisis or that it only inflames it, so we welcome the preliminary elections as soon as possible, because that is a condition for the situation in the country to start calming down and for us to move forward,” he said.
The reactions of the opposition are full of all sorts of hair-raising excuses in terms of how it would not be good to have elections when it is cold and that it would be too late if they were to already happen yesterday. It seems that after a bunch of unsuccessful attempts to replace the current government, they have set a certain timeline of activities with which they intend to slander the government and present themselves in the best light, so preliminary elections would not suit them as one might think.