Slovenia’s parliament elected Janez Janša as the country’s new prime minister on Friday, handing the right-wing veteran a fourth term in office after his party lost national elections in March.
The STA news agency reported that 51 lawmakers voted in favour of Janša, while 36 voted against.
Janša plans to form a minority government with his Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and other right-wing parties, backed from outside parliament by the ultra-right, pro-Russian Resnica (Truth) movement.
He succeeds left-liberal former prime minister Robert Golob, who had been in power for the past four years.
Golob’s Freedom Movement (GS) narrowly won this year’s parliamentary election, edging out Janša’s SDS. But it failed to secure a workable majority in coalition talks and moved into opposition.
In an address to parliament before the vote, Janša pledged to press ahead with decentralization, cutting red tape and tackling corruption.
“We are creating a future in which our descendants will be better off than we are,” he said.
The 67-year-old previously served as prime minister from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013 and from 2020 to 2022. His earlier terms in office were shadowed by corruption scandals and accusations of attacks on independent media and political opponents, and each ended in electoral defeat.
Critics have also voiced concern over the informal role of the Resnica party in Janša’s new political alliance.
The movement emerged during the coronavirus pandemic as a protest group opposed to measures introduced by Janša’s previous government, including mandatory testing and curfews.
Before the election, both Janša and Resnica leader Zoran Stefanović had ruled out governing together.
Resnica will not formally join the government, but analysts say it can't be considered part of the opposition either — especially after the incoming coalition partners voted Stefanović into the post of parliamentary speaker during the legislature’s opening session in April.
Observers fear Janša could renew attacks on public broadcasters and civil society groups through legislative changes, with Resnica expected to support him in key parliamentary votes.
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.
Although Janša advocates a hard line on migration and has clashed with some aspects of EU integration, particularly on democratic and rule-of-law standards, analysts say he is unlikely to play the same role within the European Union as Orbán.
Unlike the Hungarian leader, Janša lacks the same international networks and political experience. His SDS party’s three lawmakers in the European Parliament sit with the centre-right European People’s Party group.
