Slovenian president urges confidence vote

Slovenian President Danilo Turk on Saturday urged prime minister Borut Pahor to seek a confidence vote after his government lost majority support in parliament last month. "I think the most adequate in this situation would be if the prime minister would ask parliament for a confidence vote," Turk said in an interview published in the daily Dnevnik. Slovenia's centre-left government currently has the support of 33 MPs in the 90-seat parliament after two junior partners quit the four-party governing coalition. Pahor said he would ask parliament for a confidence vote and link it to the approval of a much needed belt-tightening budget revision to be discussed later this month. If the government wouldn't get the confidence vote, then "early elections are an option I do not reject," Turk told Dnevnik. "In some situations early elections are the best solution, the most adequate step forward," Turk said. "We have to admit we have a government's crisis until parliament clearly shows whether this minority government enjoys a sufficient support," Turk said.