Slovenia's parliament elected Janez Janša as the country's new prime minister on Friday, handing the right-wing politician a fourth term in the job after his party lost national elections in March.
The STA news agency said 51 lawmakers voted in favour of Janša and 36 against him.
Janša intends to form a minority government with his Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and other right-wing parties, supported from outside by the ultra-right, pro-Russian group Resnica (Truth).
Janša succeeds the left-liberal Robert Golob, who has been in power for the past four years. Golob's Freedom Movement (GS) narrowly won the parliamentary elections this year ahead of Janša's SDS, but no longer had a majority with its previous left-wing coalition partners.
In an address to parliament before the vote, Janša said his government would push ahead with decentralization and cutting red tape, as well as with the fight against corruption.
"We are creating a future in which our descendants will be better off than we are," he said.
The 67-year-old previously governed from 2004-08, from 2012-13 and from 2020-22. His previous terms in office were shadowed by corruption scandals and attacks on independent media and dissidents, and each ended with his defeat at the polls.
Janša has drawn criticism for making threats against the media, civil society organizations and trade unions.
Janša is regarded as a political ally of Viktor Orbán, the right-wing populist voted out of office in Hungary in April after 16 years. Oligarchs linked to Orbán helped finance Janša’s own media empire. Unlike Orbán, however, the Slovenian politician does not share the former Hungarian prime minister's pro-Russian stance.
