Jansa continued informal coalition talks

Ljubljana, 22 October

Jansa, the man tipped to be the new prime minister, last week continued informal coalition talks.

The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) decided to continue talks after studying the draft coalition agreement sent by Jansa to the potential coalition partner last week. DeSUS head Anton Rous already praised the document, saying "the draft is too good to be true". Rous is meanwhile reported to be losing support within his own party, as the Maribor section of the DeSUS made a call for him to step down in the wake of the party's disappointing showing in the 3 October election and "ongoing unacceptable behaviour". The Maribor section of the DeSUS also opposes a coalition with the centre-right Slovenian Democrats (SDS). More solid support for joining an SDS-led coalition came from New Slovenia (NSi) and the People's Party (SLS). NSi president Andrej Bajuk said the draft coalition programme included common positions, while SLS leader Janez Podobnik said that the party would propose some amendments concerning decentralisation, family policy and relations with Croatia. Talks between the SDS and the centre-left Liberal Democracy (LDS) ended in no final agreement. Jansa and LDS president Anton Rop only agreed to meet again after Jansa has been appointed the PM-designate. Rop said that his party would constructively participate in all projects important for Slovenia, saying one of them were constitutional changes. As for the centre-left United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD), Jansa said that the split in the ZLSD about joining an SDS-led coalition was a problem. The door is not closed yet, although ZLSD lawmakers are already "screaming from across the road that they are not coming in", Jansa said on 18 October. The far-right National Party (SNS) meanwhile decided to stay in the opposition. SNS leader Zmago Jelincic said that the decision had "matured within the party". Jansa stressed that if he failed to form a solid coalition the only solution would be early elections. He said the SDS would do its best for this not to happen. The SDS leader said he was not interested in minority government

Jansa continued informal coalition talks

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