Slovenians go to polls
Monday, 22 September 2008
LJUBLJANA, Sept 21(AFP): Slovenia goes to the polls Sunday with a bribery scandal hanging over Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the opposition left showing unity in a bid to regain power after four years of centre-right rule.
A poll published Saturday by the daily Delo -- polls are only allowed until a week before elections -- still put Jansa's centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in the lead with 25.0 percent of votes, ahead of the main opposition centre-left Social Democratic party, with 22.4 percent.
But the SDS is far from the 29.09 percent that brought it to power in 2004 and two of its junior coalition partners -- the Slovenian People's Party and Nova Slovenia -- are struggling to secure the 4.0 percent minimum needed to get into parliament.
A poll published Saturday by the daily Delo -- polls are only allowed until a week before elections -- still put Jansa's centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in the lead with 25.0 percent of votes, ahead of the main opposition centre-left Social Democratic party, with 22.4 percent.
But the SDS is far from the 29.09 percent that brought it to power in 2004 and two of its junior coalition partners -- the Slovenian People's Party and Nova Slovenia -- are struggling to secure the 4.0 percent minimum needed to get into parliament.