Parliament Speaker Calls Presidential Election for 21 October

Ljubljana, 20 July

Parliament Speaker France Cukjati has called the presidential election for 21 October. Cukjati told the press on Friday that election procedures would begin on 20 August.

According to Cukjati, who signed the election writs today, the date should allow enough time for campaigning and for all formal procedures to be carried out for the ballot.
A total of eight candidates have so far announced they would stand to replace incumbent President Janez Drnovsek, who has said he would not run for a second five-year term. All of the candidacies are unofficial at the moment, with presidential hopefuls given until 26 September to file their candidacies with the National Electoral Commission. The candidacies must be backed by at least 10 members of parliament or 5,000 eligible voters or a political party, which must get the support of 3 MPs and 3,000 voters.
Official campaigning begins a month before the ballot, on 21 September, and lasts until 24 hours before election day, when election blackout sets in.
The presidential poll will be the first to fall under the new election campaign act, which tightens rules on campaign funding, including by broadening the definition of campaign costs and calling for scrutiny of campaign financing by the Court of Audits.
Candidates are allowed to spend up to 0.25 euros per voter for their campaign. If they make it to the second round, the may raise that to EUR 0.4 per voter. Candidates exceeding 10% support in the election will be reimbursed EUR 0.12 for each vote won.
The winner requires a majority of the valid ballots cast on election day. If no winner emerges in the first round, a run-off is carried out involving the two candidates with the highest support in the first round. The second round must be held within three weeks of the first.
Candidacies may be filled by citizens of Slovenia older than 18 who have full legal capacity.

Parliament Speaker Calls Presidential Election for 21 October

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