Crisis-riven Slovenia chooses new president

Slovenians voted Sunday in a presidential election as the small ex-Yugoslav republic, once a star pupil in the EU, battles with an economic crisis that threatens to make it the next eurozone member to need a bailout. The post of president is largely ceremonial but the present head of state Danilo Turk has been a thorn in the side of centre-right Prime Minister Janez Jansa as he attempts to implement reforms and austerity cuts. Opinion polls indicate however that Turk will come first in the election, although not with enough of the vote to win in the first round. A second round run-off, likely pitting Turk against Jansa's centre-left predecessor Borut Pahor, is set for December 2. Jansa's favourite among the three candidates, former culture minister and European MP Milan Zver, is expected to come third, with polls giving him some 24 percent compared with 33 percent for Pahor and 42-44 percent for Turk. Slovenia is in the throes of one of the deepest downturns in the eurozone with the European Commission predicting last week that output will shrink a painful 2.3 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2013. Large volumes of bad loans at Slovenia's banks have raised fears that the country of two million people may become the latest in the 17-nation European currency union to need outside help. Slovenia's credit ratings have been slashed, mostly because of the banks, and borrowing rates on its sovereign debt have soared to seven percent, a level regarded as unsustainable in the long term without assistance. Unemployment in the 21-year-old nation is hitting record levels and trade unions plan major protests on November 17 against tough government spending cuts. A new government led by Jansa took office in February after the collapse of Pahor's administration last year and has launched a series of austerity measures aimed at stabilising public finances and reforming the country's pension and labour systems. During the electoral campaign Turk, 60, a law professor who worked at the United Nations under former secretary general Kofi Annan, openly and repeatedly questioned Jansa's policies. "The economic situation is difficult but not extraordinary, there is no use of dramatising the situation and threatening. The government's assessments of the situation are more alarming than they should be," Turk warned during one television debate. In January Turk even refused to give Jansa a mandate to form a new government after the winner of December's early elections, Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic, failed to form a coalition. Eventually Jansa was elected by MPs. By contrast, Turk's rivals in Sunday's election, Pahor, 49, and Zver, 50, have backed the government's efforts. "If there was a run-off between Pahor and Turk, certainly Jansa and the whole government would prefer Borut Pahor. For Jansa that would be the less-bad choice, he will be much more cooperative as president," said Matevz Tomsic from the Nova Gorica Advanced Social Studies faculty.