Slovenia’s ruling coalition has deflected a major challenge from the opposition as voters confirmed three laws in Sunday’s referendum which many saw as a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Robert Golob’s government.
All three laws were endorsed with double-digit margins, most notably the law that aims to depoliticise the national public broadcaster by putting civil society in charge of appointments to key management and supervisory bodies.
This law was at the forefront of campaigning due to turmoil at public broadcaster RTV Slovenija caused by profound staffing changes after the previous conservative government installed a new programme council and supervisory board, decried by staff and international organisations as biased and politicised.
“The people have voted for a free and healthy Slovenia,” said National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič, the vice-president of the ruling Freedom Movement.
“It is time the opposition accepts what people are saying,” added Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, the president of the junior coalition Social Democrats.
The opposition Democratic Party (SDS), which initiated the referendum, attributed the defeat to media bias, building on their long-standing assertion that the left controls Slovenian media.
“With a 99% media monopoly, what can they mislead them with next time,” party president Janez Janša said on Twitter.
The vote marks yet another in a series of defeats for the SDS, long the dominant force in Slovenian politics, though this has been dismissed by Janša, who said that “a result of over 40% is OK for our party.”
On top of the general election loss in April, SDS saw its seasoned politician and former foreign minister Anže Logar lose to political newcomer Nataša Pirc Musar in November.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
