By Sara Kovač (Nova24tv)
A special expert commission, checking the election results, found that there were incorrect calculations of the mandates of MPs. The public believes that such a mistake requires the immediate resignation of the State Election Commission’s (SEC) leadership as well as criminal liability. “It is time for the entire SEC to resign. With the president and director as the most responsible at the helm,” Janša called on them after the mistake was revealed. SEC President Peter Golob said that the elections were fair and legal, and that he was not considering resigning due to complications in the calculation of parliamentary seats. The representative of the SDS in the SEC, Drago Zadergal, suggested postponing the confirmation of the result for 24 hours to check all possible irregularities. Despite a public call, the SEC rejected the proposal, and President Borut Pahor signed an order convening a constituent session of the National Assembly on May 13th.
On Friday, during the additional verification of the election results with the help of a special expert commission, the State Election Commission (SEC) discovered an error in the calculation of the distribution of seats of MPs. The group included representatives of Intelcom and Genis, which are developers and maintainers of software for calculating election results, and an independent consultant Andrej Bauer from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana.
The members of the expert commission compared the data of the old software used in 2014 and 2018, the new software and the programme developed by Bauer. They found that the results did not match, so they immediately informed the director of the SEC, Dušan Vuček. Computer scientists and mathematicians explained to SEC members how the error in the programme for calculating mandates occurred and why they discovered the error only now, just before the confirmation of the official report on the election results. Computer scientists ensure that mandates are now calculated correctly.
Due to a change in the calculation of results, Franc Props (Novo mesto) and Tina Novak (Ptuj) won seats in the Robert Golob’s Gibanje Svoboda party, while Tomaž Lah (Maribor) and Jurij Lep (Maribor) did not win seats, whom have hitherto been considered to become representatives of the people. Alenka Helbl (Celje) and Dejan Kaloh (Maribor) received seats from Janez Janša’s SDS, but not Maja Kocjan (Novo mesto) and Andrej Kosi (Ptuj). Janez Žakelj (Kranj) and not Klemen Matk (Celje) won the mandate in Matej Tonin’s NSi. In the Levica of Luka Mesec, Tatjana Greif (Maribor) became an MP, not Ana Černe (Kranj).
They refused to move the official confirmation of the results by one day
The incorrect calculation of the distribution of seats was also discussed by the SEC, which also confirmed the result of the election so that the resident Peter Golob and the director Dušan Vučko could hand it over to President Borut Pahor today. The representative of the SDS in the ESC, Drago Zadergal, suggested that the commission postpone the confirmation of the result by 24 hours so that the members who found out about the mistake just before the session could check everything. But most ESC members rejected it. “Our only member of the ESC was outvoted again when he proposed a re-examination of the mandates and to postpone the announcement of the results of the 2022 elections for a day. Why the rush?” asked Prime Minister Janez Janša.
The president of DVK Golob explained that he had already agreed with Pahor on today’s date for the submission of the report and that the postponement was not possible because the president had obligations later. Only Zadergal voted for additional re-examination time. The rest were satisfied with Golob’s explanation that the unelected and representatives of the lists can still appeal to the National Assembly when it confirms their mandates. “It is time for the entire ESC to resign. With the president and director as the most responsible at the helm,” Janša called on them after revealing the mistake. The public also estimates that such a mistake requires the immediate resignation of the ESC leadership, as well as criminal liability. “Probably the ESC is not aware that elections are a very serious matter and that there is no room for a single mistake.” ESC President Golob said that the elections were fair and legal, and that he was not considering resigning due to complications in the calculation of parliamentary seats.
Despite his mistakes, Pahor signed an order convening the first session
The public also called on President Pahor not to announce the official results until all possible irregularities have been verified by the ESC. “I also expect Borut Pahor to postpone the official results for as long as possible to avoid any doubts about the credibility of this year’s elections, until all possible irregularities are reviewed again in the presence of neutral experts!” Today, after receiving the ESC’s minutes on the official results of the April National Assembly elections, Pahor signed an order convening the first session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, which will take place on Friday, May 13th, at 11 am. He assessed that the “election process was fair and transparent”.