By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
the SDS party submitted more than 157,000 signatures for the call for three referendum initiatives, namely the referendum on the government, RTV, and long-term care. Immediately after that, the representatives of the coalition parties gave their statement, who unanimously said that it was an abuse. “This is an attack on the government, misunderstanding, disrespect for the result of the parliamentary elections,” said Borut Sajovic from the Gibanje Svoboda party. With this, the coalition clearly showed what it thinks about the voters. Apparently, for them, 157,000 signatures are irrelevant if they do not follow their outlined political path. They also do not understand that winning the election does not mean that they will be safe from referendums for the rest of their term, especially ones that voters have made it very clear they want.
In the parliamentary groups Svoboda, SD, and Levica, they believe that the SDS party did not come to terms with the result of the April parliamentary elections. “This will be a referendum on the government, if you will, I believe it will be the last,” responded Robert Golob. However, they do not realise that the people did not give them a mandate for harmful laws, but exactly for what they said, “to deal with inflation, the costliness, and the energy crisis”, which is not going well for them at all. Electricity is among the most expensive in Europe, food is becoming more expensive, and the government prefers to establish price comparison apps rather than concrete solutions.
Inflation also ran rampant, and Branko Grims said before the signing that inflation does not occur because people spend too much, but because the government spends beyond its means. The government blamed the opposition for the cost of the referendums, but they themselves want to increase the number of their ministries and hire additional staff in order to bring to the bottom those who owe them the election result. “The government wants to establish a record number of ministries, there should be 20 of them. They would therefore be European record holders. We must say no to this and the Golob government’s policy. Three times no. This is exactly why it is worth and necessary to go to referendums,” Grims was clear, adding that due to the excessive spending of the Golob government, poverty among citizens is even greater.
For Golob, the will of male and female voters in co-decision is a political overplay and obstruction
It is also interesting that when they themselves proposed referendums (on the last referendum on the Water Act), it was the right of citizens to co-decide on important topics, and at that time referendums were the foundation of democracy. However, when the SDS party submits almost 160,000 signatures of citizens who would like to co-decide on important issues, this is abuse, harassment, and disrespect for the election results. This was also emphasised by Grims yesterday, namely that in the “textbook of Dr Lovro Šturm it is beautifully written that the referendum is the only effective form of establishing power. In the past few days, when it became clear that we would succeed, the nervousness of those who said a year ago that the referendum was the highest form of democracy grew.”
Disrespect of almost 160 thousand signatures
The coalition therefore says that it is an abuse of the referendum legislation, and that the opposition does not understand the result of the election. The fact that Golob characterised such a large number of signatures as obstruction, harassment, and politicisation is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful to all those who submitted their signatures. As well as proof that he wants to discredit those who interfere with his plans.
The coalition fears the outcome of the referendums
The fact that the referendums will not be held on election days, when there would be a greater turnout, is proof that they are still afraid of them. Golob said that the signatures were submitted late, that it would not be possible to catch the second round of the presidential elections and “we will have a referendum day”. According to him, this will most likely be between the two rounds of local elections, because “you cannot mix these two things”.