Zoran Jankovic`s “Positive Slovenia” wins election
Baku, December 5 (AZERTAC). A new centre-left party headed by Ljubljana`s popular and charismatic millionaire mayor won a surprise victory in struggling euro member Slovenia`s elections Sunday, promising a more "efficient" state.
With 96 percent of votes counted, Zoran Jankovic`s Positive Slovenia won 28.62 percent of the vote, against 26.22 percent for the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of ex-premier Janez Jansa -- the former favourite to win.
Crashing to third place in the struggling eurozone member state were the governing Social Democrats of Prime Minister Borut Pahor with just 10.54 percent, compared with 30.5 percent at the last election in 2008.
Jankovic, 58, the former head of Slovenia`s main supermarket chain Mercator, had won a landslide election to become the capital`s mayor in 2006 and secured a second term with 65 percent of the vote in 2010.
"The results show that citizens want a different state. They had Jansa and Pahor, now they want a democratic but efficient state," a jubilant Jankovic told journalists at his campaign headquarters on Sunday night. He said that by the end of his four-year mandate, Slovenia`s economy would reach a growth rate of four percent.
Jansa`s admitted defeat at his party headquarters, congratulating Jankovic for the victory but forecast he would not serve a full four years.
Although still in a far better state than many euro members, since joining in 2007 Slovenia`s national debt as a proportion of output has roughly doubled to 45.5 percent, according to the European Commission.
The three main credit agencies have cut their ratings on Slovenian debt in recent months, and last month interest rates hit seven percent -- a level that forced other countries to seek outside support.
When two-million-strong Slovenia joined the euro, the country was enjoying stellar economic growth, unemployment under seven percent and solid public finances.
Growth figures last week showed Slovenia perilously close to recession, with output shrinking 0.2 percent in the third quarter after stagnating in the second and contracting 0.1 percent in the first.
Turnout in the election was estimated at 63.68 percent of the 1.7 million eligible citizens, compared to a 63.1 percent in 2008.
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