site.btaHigh Voter Turnout Is Big Surprise in Slovenia's European Elections, Journalist Says

Voter turnout in the June 9 European elections in Slovenia reached a record high of 41.35% based on 99.97% of the votes. The Democratic Party of Slovenia (SDS) won 30.65% of all votes and four seats. The ruling Freedom Movement is second with 22.15% and two seats. Three more parties made it into the European Parliament with one seat each: Vesna - Green Party with 10.52%, the Social Democrats with 7.72% and New Slovenia with 7.66%.

Journalist Erika Stular from RTV SLO, Slovenia commented: "The really big surprise is the turnout - it has never been above 29%. Now it is almost ten percentage points higher, which is good news for everybody because it lends further legitimacy to the election results."

She also said this is a victory for the Democratic Party of Slovenia, as indeed in all European elections so far. The SDS alone won four seats, while all the government parties put together won three seats. This trend of similar results continues, and these results are also similar to the European People's Party results at European level. "It is also very gratifying that a party which is not part of either the European Parliament or the Slovenian Parliament managed to make it into the European Parliament. I'm talking about Vesna - Green Party, with Vladimir Prebilic, a very successful long-serving mayor [of Kocevje] as its top candidate."

The journalist noted that all parties declared themselves winners - either because of the higher turnout or because of the number of seats they won. "We can see that the government parties which did not win seats are happy with the election results. The parties which could not make it into the European Parliament and performed less well than they expected were happy on account of the results of the three referendums that were held alongside the European elections. People voted on the issues that the government parties wanted."

Stular concluded that the elections were largely perceived as a victory of the government coalition, on whose proposals Slovenians voted in three referendums - on cannabis, on euthanasia and on preferential voting in parliamentary elections.

"What is important to know about these elections is that they focused on issues which are not really pro-European, such as the recognition of the Palestinian state - this debate took place during the election campaign when people were talking about the referendums," Stular said.

Slovenians could choose between 11 parties and 99 candidates. A preliminary election was held between June 4 and 6 for those who would be unable to cast their ballots on Sunday.