Slovenia Politics Megathread

[Astatine]

That's almost.......breathtaking

For some of Bratušek's constituents, the most breathtaking thing about her are her legs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATNuNeJmu8k&lc=UggYFT9gQ4avp3gCoAEC

But yeah, I think I trashed her enough, she is still more successful and talented (as well as less corrupt) than most of her male counterparts. I mean, if SAB makes it into Parliament in the next elections, a curse for Slovenian liberal parties has officially been broken (excluding LDS).

Regarding the motion, SDS mocks the KUL coalition for halting the vote until all MPs can be present and demands the motion be held asap.


("Freedom for Janša")

The hypocrisy...
This is the same party that protested in 2014 that Janša - who was in jail at that time for corruption - could not participate in a parliamentary vote. In the end, it was ordered that he had to be released for the vote and was brought back to jail afterwards, but yeah...

Bratušek is so much more preferable to Janša, who isn't even worth trashing. The list of his wrongdoings would be too long.

[Astatine]

Janša finally congratulated Biden!

https://twitter.com/JJansaSDS/status/1352011900868055040

[Astatine]

The first poll after the suspension of the motion. Erjavec remains the most unpopular politician, but Janša's government has a net approval of -24.

Party vote:

SDS: 26.2
SD: 13.9
LMS: 13.6
Levica: 10.7
NSi: 7.7
SAB: 6.3
DeSUS: 3.9
SNS: 3.7
SLS: 2.9
Greens: 2.7
Pirates: 2.6
SMC: 2.2

If there is no vote on the motion this week, it will be dismissed and Erjavec has to collect the signatures again to submit them.

Btw, it appears as if there is one possible defector from the SMC side. Caucus leader Janja Sluga was extremely moderate in her criticism of the motion, citing that she actually believed that the motion was suspended due to the absence of quarantined MPs (while other government members mocked the KUL coalition). Sluga also appears to have good contacts to SAB and LMS, so there is rumors she might vote in favor of the motion (in exchange, she might get a good spot on SAB or LMS lists, as both are not unlikely to have more MPs after the next election - running for SMC seems to be hopeless anyways). Assuming that the one DeSUS MP who did not sign the list votes for the motion, that would bring the number of votes up to 44.

And here, the situation gets tricky. Both the Italian and Hungarian minority have one seat in Parliament, and both MPs made clear they don't want to be the kingmakers. They might very well end up in this kind of situation, and if they voted in favor of the motion (the vote is secret but the arithmetics don't add up otherwise), get ready for Janša's rant about how he was thrown from his throne by the "caviar left" and unelected minority MPs.

[Astatine]

Well, it seems like Slovenians still have appetite for ANOTHER centrist party, or rather an alliance. The chairman of the extra-parliamentary Green Party announced today that he intends to form an electoral alliance called "Unite Slovenia!". This was received positively by the chairman of the extra-parliamentary conservative Slovenian People's Party SLS, which failed to take the 4 percent threshold twice in a row (until 2014, it was the only party to be represented in Parliament from 1990 on, and it failed the hurdle by a few hundred votes in 2014 – 3.95 %). SLS has been an SDS ally ever since.

Speaking of SDS ally, SMC also seems to be interested in being part of this coalition, as well as former DeSUS leader Aleksandra Pivec, who defected from her party to continue supporting the right-wing government (and thinks about creating an own party as well). So we're not really talking about a "true" centrist coalition here, but rather about an alliance of dwarfs being strong enough to guarantee support for Janša, although I am not that sure about the Greens.

If we combine of all of the muHderate parties, we'd get 7.8 % according to the last poll. This project could work out for the next elections, but if there is a kind of split in the center-left and the right-wing camp just like in 2011/2018, this alliance might very well fall apart and be the Virant/SMC of the incoming election cycle.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

Well, it seems like Slovenians still have appetite for ANOTHER centrist party, or rather an alliance. The chairman of the extra-parliamentary Green Party announced today that he intends to form an electoral alliance called "Unite Slovenia!".

If you mean the one led by Andrej Čuš, he is, IIRC, the former chair of the SDS youth wing.

[Astatine]

Well, it seems like Slovenians still have appetite for ANOTHER centrist party, or rather an alliance. The chairman of the extra-parliamentary Green Party announced today that he intends to form an electoral alliance called "Unite Slovenia!".

If you mean the one led by Andrej Čuš, he is, IIRC, the former chair of the SDS youth wing.

Well, that explains it, so it's pretty much another attempt to create a "centrist in name only" Janša satellite party, similar to NSLS pre 2018.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

And here, the situation gets tricky. Both the Italian and Hungarian minority have one seat in Parliament, and both MPs made clear they don't want to be the kingmakers. They might very well end up in this kind of situation, and if they voted in favor of the motion (the vote is secret but the arithmetics don't add up otherwise), get ready for Janša's rant about how he was thrown from his throne by the "caviar left" and unelected minority MPs.

Bruh I would love to see Janša thrown out by the Italian minority MP!

[Astatine]

Some new developments:

- The opposition is in favor of changing the Parliamentary Rules so secret votes can take place without MPs needing to be present in person. As this requires a 2/3 majority, very unlikely to pass.

- Formally, DeSUS left the coalition in December, but is still part of the government as the Minister for Agriculture as well as some Under-Secretaries did not resign from their position. Janša urges DeSUS to decide until Wednesday what they actually want (DeSUS intends to become a member of the informal KUL coalition), else, the DeSUS government members get fired.

- The opposition is preparing motions to oust several members of the government - Minister for Education Simona Kustec, Minister for Labour Janez Cigler Kralj and Minister for Culture Vasko Simoniti.

- Alenka Bratušek finally gets her seat in Parliament - For sad reasons tho. The leader of the SAB caucus, Franc Kramar, passed away today at age 60. RIP.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

- Alenka Bratušek finally gets her seat in Parliament - For sad reasons tho. The leader of the SAB caucus, Franc Kramar, passed away today at age 60. RIP.

It would be a sad development even if it hadn't happened for sad reasons to be honest. RIP.

[Astatine]

And here we go again: A new motion to oust Janša has been filed by the KUL parties, this time supported by 10 MPs (2 from each party of the KUL coalition). The vote on the motion will likely take place on Monday.

[Astatine]

Aaaaand... the motion failed, with only 40 votes in favor, 7 votes against and 6 abstentions. The remaining 37 votes were not cast. Also kinda embarrassing that Erjavec was likely unable to convince the majority of his own party to vote in favor of the motion.

[Estrella]

Might be a stupid question, but what does KUL stand for?

[Astatine]

Might be a stupid question, but what does KUL stand for?

Koalicija ustavnega loka = Coalition of the Constitutional arch

And KUL is also the Slovene pronunciation of "cool".

[Astatine]

Karl Erjavec is out! He resigned from his position as party chairman and left DeSUS as well to take a corporate job. Apparently DeSUS now reconsiders re-joining Janša's government. Big oof.

DeSUS has been a mess for some time now, the relationship between the party leadership and the parliamentary caucus has been tense for a while and polls indicate the party might go the way of SMC (which holds a congress soon to determine the future of their party leader).