Modern Centre Party

Ljubljana – Speaker Igor Zorčič will not call a plenary session to debate the opposition Left’s party programme after the coalition Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) requested this last week, arguing the programme contained elements suggesting the Left could act against the country’s constitutional order.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša sent a proposal to appoint Marjan Dikaučič, an official receiver, Slovenia’s new justice minister to parliament on Friday after the candidate was put forward by the Modern Centre Party (SMC).

Ljubljana – The leader of the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC), Zdravko Počivalšek, has decided to remain economy minister rather than return to parliament. This is after an MP of the ruling Democrats (SDS) said last week that Počivalšek returning to parliament to secure the coalition an absolute majority was still an option.

Ljubljana – Igor Zorčič remains speaker as only 45 MPs voted to dismiss him in a secret ballot Friday, one short of the needed majority, just like in the first attempt on 30 March after he quit the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC). Two ballots were invalid while no MP voted against as the centre-left opposition and unaffiliated MPs obstructed the vote.

Ljubljana – Justice Minister Lilijana Kozlovič has handed her resignation, the Justice Ministry confirmed for the STA. The reason is the government’s decision to annul the procedure to appoint Slovenia’s two European delegated prosecutors and to publish a new call for applications, which Kozlovič sees no justified grounds for.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly’s failure to endorse the agenda of the plenary needed to go ahead with the session in the first such instance ever is yet another sign of how the current balance of power is hampering parliament’s work, at times making it impossible, an analyst has assessed for the STA.

Ljubljana – A key multi-day plenary at which parliament was to vote on the opposition-sponsored motion to impeach Prime Minister Janez Janša and the coalition’s proposal to dismiss Speaker Igor Zorčič was aborted on Monday after MPs failed to endorse the agenda in the first such instance to date. Each side then filed for an emergency session instead.

Ljubljana – A proposal to reshuffle parliamentary working bodies to accommodate four unaffiliated MPs, including the speaker of parliament, who have recently defected was rejected for the third time on Tuesday.

Ljubljana – A proposal to reshuffle parliamentary working bodies to include four unaffiliated MPs who have recently defected was rejected on Tuesday after the first was voted down last week. Nevertheless, the centre-left opposition parties and the unaffiliated MPs intend to keep trying so that, they say, democracy is not undermined.

Ljubljana – The college of deputy group leaders has voted against making four newly unaffiliated MPs, including the speaker, members of parliamentary bodies in a victory for what is formally a minority ruling coalition.