By: Sara Rančigaj (Nova24tv.si)
At a correspondence session, the DeSUS party council supported the executive committee’s proposal that the party also formally joins the opposition association – KUL. At the proposal of the executive committee, the party council also supported the filing of no-confidence and the support of their MPs, despite the fact that Erjavec withdrew his candidacy on Tuesday. While there is a great deal of disunity among DeSUS MPs, they are more than not united in the world of the parties. Activities within the DeSUS party are very non-uniform, despite the fact that this could lead the party to collapse in the next elections, and Erjavec would like to form a government, despite the fact that he has no support for it.
According to Robert Polnar, with his re-emerging as the party’s president, Karl Erjavec assured that they would not leave the coalition with Janez Janša. It seems that Erjavec later changed his mind, and the executive committee of the DeSUS party also had similar opinion as they supported the party leaving the coalition. However, the situation has affected the work of MPs and is creating growing divisions among them.
The party’s executive committee thus voted to expel Polnar from the party, as he was the only one who dared to actually resist them and as his goal set the Slovenia’s well-being, despite all the discredit he received. Polnar officially remains a member of the DeSUS parliamentary group, despite being expelled from the party, and he will act on his own conscience.
Erjavec was later opposed by another of his MPs, Branko Simonovič, as he did not want to sign the no-confidence motion. Simonovič was of the opinion that the above-mentioned no-confidence motion casts a bad light on the party itself, as the Minister of Health at the time was a member of their party – Tomaž Gantar. Despite the whole saga, however, MPs supported all the measures proposed by the government to mitigate the effects of the epidemic.
On Friday, however, Erjavec still submitted the signatures for filing a constructive vote of no confidence, supported by only three of the five MPs within his parliamentary group. He is said to have the most problems with his own MPs, as he is supposedly meeting with them for several hours. Erjavec withdrew the proposal on Tuesday, as the coronavirus had spread within the parliamentary ranks and MPs could not be present at the secret ballot. For a possible new proposal of constructive no-confidence motion, Erjavec will have to collect the signatures of MPs again. Meanwhile, the President of the National Assembly, Igor Zorčič, announced that they were already looking for solutions that could enable secret ballot outside the seat of the National Assembly, which is currently not allowed by the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. Erjavec says that they will not wait for changes to the Rules of Procedure, but will submit the proposal as soon as all MPs can participate in the session.
On Tuesday, at the suggestion of the executive committee, the council of the DeSUS party at a correspondence session supported the proposal for the DeSUS party to join KUL. The strategy of the DeSUS party is thus not completely clear, as Erjavec would like to lead the government, despite not even having enough votes for support. It is also not known what joining KUL means for the DeSUS parliamentary group. In all likelihood, the MPs will continue to vote according to their conscience and support the government’s proposals, and above all, it will be difficult to expect Polnar to cooperate with the others.
Erjavec’s unusual work – he does not have enough votes, but would he wants to lead the government?
While the candidate for prime minister did not even receive public support, and it seems that it will also be difficult for him to receive support from the MPs, he withdrew the proposal for the mandate. In the party, however, they are more than not united. The decision to join the party to KUL was supported by 37 members of the party council, while only two were against. 38 members of the council voted in favour of the vote of no confidence, with two members against it again. The party leadership seems to support joining the opposition, despite everything they have done as members of the coalition for the benefit of the population. Supporters of the party and voters are certainly closely monitoring the events in the party, and public opinion polls will show whether the party acted correctly or whether this will be the final burial of the party after the departure of Aleksandra Pivec.