Percorso:ANSA > Nuova Europa > Slovenia > Slovenia centre-right govt survives no-confidence vote
Slovenia centre-right govt survives no-confidence vote
Motion backed by only 40 votes
16 February, 08:33
(ANSA-AFP) - LJUBLJANA, FEB 16 - Slovenian conservative Prime
Minister Janez Jansa's government on Monday survived a
no-confidence vote brought by opposition parties who accuse him
of trying to turn the country into an "authoritarian democracy".
The motion, filed by centre-left opposition parties, was backed by 40 votes, with seven MPs voting against and six invalid ballots -- leaving the opposition short of the 46 required to bring down the government. This was the second attempt in as many months to oust Jansa, a similar motion in January having failed due to several coronavirus-related absences among MPs.
Karl Erjavec, leader of the opposition DESUS party, said after the debate that he was "sorry to have received only 40 votes, I had expected more". "The time for changes hasn't yet arrived," he said, adding that it would be up to the voters to cast judgement on the government in elections scheduled for next year. Erjavec filed the motion last week in the name of five opposition centre-left parties. 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.
He 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 coronavirus pandemic 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 relies on the support of the small populist Slovenian National Party (SNS) and two minority representatives in order to keep its parliamentary majority. (ANSA-AFP).
© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
The motion, filed by centre-left opposition parties, was backed by 40 votes, with seven MPs voting against and six invalid ballots -- leaving the opposition short of the 46 required to bring down the government. This was the second attempt in as many months to oust Jansa, a similar motion in January having failed due to several coronavirus-related absences among MPs.
Karl Erjavec, leader of the opposition DESUS party, said after the debate that he was "sorry to have received only 40 votes, I had expected more". "The time for changes hasn't yet arrived," he said, adding that it would be up to the voters to cast judgement on the government in elections scheduled for next year. Erjavec filed the motion last week in the name of five opposition centre-left parties. 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.
He 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 coronavirus pandemic 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 relies on the support of the small populist Slovenian National Party (SNS) and two minority representatives in order to keep its parliamentary majority. (ANSA-AFP).
