Slovenia MPs to vote on fresh bid to oust government

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia's parliament met on Monday to debate a no-confidence motion against conservative Prime Minister Janez Jansa's government, accused by the opposition of exploiting the pandemic to turn the country into an "authoritarian democracy".

This is the second attempt in as many months to oust Jansa, a similar motion in January having failed due to virus-related absences among several MPs.

"You are here to choose between an authoritarian democracy and a normal, constitutional and democratic Slovenia," Karl Erjavec, leader of the opposition DESUS party, told lawmakers at the beginning of the debate.

A vote on the motion is expected late on Monday.

Erjavec filed the motion last week in the name of five opposition centre-left parties who have proposed him as an alternative candidate if a majority of the 90 MPs vote for the motion.

However, the five parties backing the motion only hold 43 seats in parliament -- three short of a majority.

Veteran politician Jansa, who has been in his latest stint as prime minister since March, is a close ally of nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Jansa has mimicked Orban's hardline rhetoric on migration and has accused media outlets of spreading lies for criticising his handling of the pandemic.

The opposition accuses Jansa of using the health emergency to weaken state institutions and independent media, and of going against constitutional values.

Jansa rejected the opposition's accusations during Monday's debate, calling the motion "a destructive farce" and a "waste of taxpayers' money".

"Our government has done much more than the previous one, in far less time and under tougher epidemic conditions, and citizens know it and can feel it in their pockets," Jansa said.

The previous five-party government fell apart in January 2020 amid internal arguments.

Jansa's alliance lost its majority in parliament when the pensioners' party DESUS decided to quit it in December.

However, it claims it can rely on 47 votes in parliament thanks to the support of the small populist Slovenian National Party (SNS) and two minority representatives.

Since the vote is held in secret, the opposition hopes that some MPs from the Modern Centre Party (SMC), a junior partner in the current coalition, might join efforts to oust Jansa.