Slovenian Parliament votes for new government led by Janša

Members of the Slovenian Parliament elected today the new, 16th Government of Slovenia and Janez Janša as the new Prime Minister.

49 MPs voted for the election of the president of the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), including coalition partners from New Slovenia, the Slovenian People's Party (one MP absent), Focus, Democrats, as well as MPs from the Resnica Movement, who will support the government in a minority.

Janša's fourth term as prime minister was also supported by two representatives of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities.

The SDS will have seven ministers in the new government: Franci Matoz - Minister of Internal Affairs, Tone Kajzer - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Education, Science and Youth - Borut Rončević, Minister of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning - Polona Rifelj, Minister of Culture - Ignacija Fridl Jarc, Minister of Finance - Andrej Šircelj and Minister for Slovenians in the Neighborhood and Around the World - Suzana Lep Šimenko.

The Democrats received three ministerial positions, their leader Anže Logar will lead the Department of Economy, Labor and Sports, Tadej Ostrc was appointed Minister of Health, while Mihael Zupančič was elected Minister of Justice.

The remaining five ministries went to Nova Slovenija and Fokus. Thus, the president of Nova Slovenija Jernej Vrtovec will lead the ministry of infrastructure and energy, and from the ranks of that coalition, the Minister of Agriculture Janez Cigler Kralj, the Minister of Defense Valentin Hajdinjak, the Minister of Demography, Family and Social Affairs - Mateja Ribič, as well as the Minister of Local Self-Government, Cohesion and Regional Development - Monika Kirbiš Rojs (Fokus) were also elected.

In his address to the MPs, Janša pointed out that no government in history has had so many experienced personnel, and that he hopes that the mandate will be "systematic and boring."

"I also expect those who shape public opinion not to drag the government into this or that political dispute every time someone is offended by a word. Because then there will be no time to deal with matters that are crucial to Slovenia's well-being," said Janša.

"Of course, we are also aware that for some, as we have already seen in previous mandates, the slide into totalitarianism occurs at the moment when they can no longer fully live at the expense of others. We are aware of this challenge, and we also see that leaving power is traumatic for some," said Janša, alluding to the left-liberal Freedom Movement, reported the Slovenian public service.

Janša was born on September 17, 1958, and his first term as prime minister lasted from 2004 to 2008.

He led the government on two more occasions, from February 10, 2012 to March 20, 2013 and from 2020 to 2022.

The SDS won 28 seats in the March 22 elections, one less than the left-liberal Freedom Movement, which has led the Slovenian government for the previous four years.

The coalition of New Slovenia, SLS and Focus won nine seats, the Democrats six, the Resnica Movement five seats, while two seats went to representatives of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities.

The election campaign was marked by a spy scandal involving the Israeli private intelligence agency "Black Cube", which was allegedly behind a series of videos in which individuals associated with the then Freedom Movement government boast about their political connections and talk about corruption in the political leadership.