By: T. B. (Nova24tv)
After Ciril Keršmanc withdrew his candidacy, President Nataša Pirc Musar has once again proposed Barbara Kresal for the position of Constitutional Court judge. This move is not accidental but part of a broader strategy by the left to secure a majority of ideologically aligned appointees on the Constitutional Court before the parliamentary elections in March.
The goal is clear: to safeguard the coalition’s interests even in the event of an electoral defeat. This is not a selection based on expertise but pure ideological arithmetic.
Barbara Kresal, an associate professor at the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Ljubljana, specialising in labour law and social security, is closely connected to international progressive networks in this field. What also stands out is her years‑long co‑authorship with Katarina Kresal Šoltes.
Family ties to the SD party
She is married to Igor Šoltes, grandson of Edvard and Pepca Kardelj. Igor Šoltes, former president of the Court of Audit (2004–2013), MEP, and state secretary in the SD, was involved in several controversial affairs, including the questionable purchase of an apartment with a favourable €155,000 NLB loan (2009), despite paying exceptionally low rent for a municipal apartment, and the scandal surrounding the purchase of the court building on Litijska Street, which later led to his resignation.
Let’s recall the sequence of events: President Pirc Musar initially proposed Tamara Kek, Marko Starman, and Barbara Kresal for the three vacant Constitutional Court positions. She later announced that Kresal did not have sufficient support, so she replaced her with Ciril Keršmanc, head of the specialised and criminal department at the Ljubljana District Court. Keršmanc was then rejected – according to the more radical part of the left, because of allegedly “too soft” positions on abortion or insufficiently progressive views. After additional “consultations” with the coalition, the president aligned herself with their position and put Kresal back into play. Support for Kresal was strong from the start within the SD, while the Freedom Movement and Levica expressed some reservations – but they have now clearly fallen in line with the coalition’s wishes.
Why the rush? Golob’s government senses defeat in the upcoming elections. The current balance on the Constitutional Court already favours the left, but the goal is total dominance. Filling the vacancies that expire in March and April 2026 (including the terms of Klemen Jaklič and Rajko Knez) would allow the left long‑term influence over key issues: reforms, privatisation, healthcare, and more. The opposition rightly calls this an institutional takeover. As we have seen before with the appointment of “left‑wing activists,” this is a systematic cementing of bias within the judiciary.
Experts warn that such staffing undermines trust in the judiciary and erodes the foundations of the rule of law. If the left succeeds in carrying out this plan, it will be yet another severe blow to democracy – a clear sign that they are willing to sacrifice the independence of key institutions to retain power at any cost.
