Positive Slovenia

Slovenian political party

The logo of Positive Slovenia, which was in use from the establishment of party on 22 October 2011 until its second congress on 21 January 2012, included the name of Zoran Jankovič, its president. Originally, the party was known as Zoran Janković's List – Positive Slovenia.

Positive Slovenia (Slovene: Pozitivna Slovenija, PS) was a centre-left[7][8][9][10] political party in Slovenia, following April 2014 led by founder Zoran Janković.[11] The party was founded under the name Zoran Janković's List – Positive Slovenia. It was renamed to Positive Slovenia in its second congress, held on 21 January 2012.[12]

History

On 11 October 2011, Janković, then mayor of Ljubljana, announced that he would participate in the early parliamentary election, following the fall of the government of Prime Minister Borut Pahor.[13] The charter of the new party was enacted on 22 October 2011, where Janković was unanimously elected president.[14] Among the party's supporters were National Assembly members Matjaž Zanoškar, Cveta Zalokar Oražem, and Renata Brunskole.[14] Milan Kučan, the first President of Slovenia, also expressed his support, citing Janković's work as the chairman of the retailing chain, Mercator, and as the mayor of Ljubljana.[15]

Among the goals of the party that Janković emphasised were a secure, social and efficient state with a 4% GDP growth rate and less than 3% budget deficit. Janković stated that his goal was to place Slovenia among the most successful countries in the world.[16]

Positive Slovenia won 28.51% of the vote, thus gaining 28 parliamentary seats at the early Slovenian 2011 parliamentary election: the most of all participating political parties.[17] Janković was favourite to become prime minister, and Positive Slovenia led coalition negotiations, primarily with the Social Democrats (SD), Gregor Virant's Civic List (LGV), and DeSUS. A preliminary coalition agreement was reached,[citation needed] but LGV withdrew two days later and endorsed a Slovenian Democratic Party-led centre-right government, leaving Positive Slovenia in opposition.

In relation to the 2013 allegations made by the official Commission for the Prevention of Corruption of the Republic of Slovenia, the party temporarily suspended Janković from all functions.[18] Alenka Bratušek became its chair-woman. PS submitted an initiative to dismiss Janša's cabinet, that passed. Bratušek became the first female Prime Minister of Slovenia, and Positive Slovenia became the principal governmental party.[citation needed]

On 30 January 2014, PS applied for membership of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE),[19] but resigned from its pending membership on 30 April 2014 after the following party congress.[20]

On 26 April 2014, Zoran Janković was again voted as the president of the party with 422 votes for out of 763 voters.[11] His election also caused a split in PS' parliamentary group: 11 deputies formed their own group, while 2 became unaffiliated; 13 deputies ultimately stayed with PS.[21] On 31 May Bratušek's splinter group formed the Alliance of Alenka Bratušek as a separate party.[22]

In the 2014 European election, PS received a mere 6.6% of the vote, failing to return any MEPs.[23]

The party received 2.96% of the vote in the 2014 parliamentary election on 13 July 2014, and did not win any seats in parliament.[24]

The party did not contest the 2018 parliamentary election, or participate in any subsequent elections.

Reception

Janković's decision to create a new political party came together with the announcements of other new parties, such as Gregor Virant's Civic List and the Party for Sustainable Development. The new party gained significant public support even before it was officially chartered, placing first in an opinion poll by the newspaper Delo.[25] Other opinion polls placed the party among the top three.[26][27][28]

The leaders of the centre-left parties whom Janković supported in the 2008 election,[29] had reservations about Janković entering state politics.[30] On the other hand, Janez Janša, the opposition leader, claimed that Janković did not bring an alternative to the politics of Slovenia.[31]

In 2011 Slovenian Democratic Party affiliated mayors in eastern Slovenia threatened to split off the regions of Lower Styria and Prekmurje from the central state, claiming that a future government under Janković would pursue a rigorously Ljubljana-centred policy and ignore the interests of the peripheric regions.[32][33]

Leaders

  • Zoran Janković, 2011–2013
  • Alenka Bratušek, 2013–2014
  • Zoran Janković, 2014–2018

Electoral results

Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
2011 Zoran Janković 314,273 28.5
28 / 90
 Increase 28 Steady1st Opposition (2012–2013)
Coalition (2013–2014)
2014 25,975 2.97
0 / 90
 Decrease 28 Decrease 9th Extraparliamentary

Presidential

Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round Elected?
votes % of vote votes % of vote
2012 Danilo Türk[a] 293,429 35.88 231,971 32.63 Lost

a Independent candidate, support

References

  1. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2014). "Slovenia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018.
  2. ^ Yaman Omar Hukan (30 May 2018). "Elections in Slovenia: Another Orbán?". Young European Federalists. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  3. ^ Willner, Mark; Hero, George; Martin, Mary; Moore, David; Weiner, Jerry (2020). Let's Review Regents: Global History and Geography 2020. Simon and Schuster. p. 155. ISBN 9781506270838.
  4. ^ "Slovenia election: Ljubljana's mayor takes surprise victory"
  5. ^ New centre-left party takes surprise victory in legislative poll
  6. ^ Center-left wins power in Croatia, Slovenian poll delivers surprise
  7. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (1 March 2012). Britannica Book of the Year 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. pp. 461–. ISBN 978-1-61535-618-8.
  8. ^ "Slovenia election: Ljubljana's mayor takes surprise victory", The Guardian, 4 December 2011, retrieved 13 January 2011
  9. ^ New centre-left party takes surprise victory in legislative poll, France 24, 5 December 2011, retrieved 13 January 2012
  10. ^ Connor, Richard (5 December 2011), Center-left wins power in Croatia, Slovenian poll delivers surprise, DW World, retrieved 13 January 2012
  11. ^ a b "Pozitivna Slovenija". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  12. ^ "Pozitivna Slovenija s spremembami statuta širi svoje delovanje na lokalno raven" [With Changes of Statute, Positive Slovenia Spreads its Activity to the Local Level] (in Slovenian). Slovenian Press Agency. 21 January 2012. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014.
  13. ^ "Janković gre na volitve s svojo stranko" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Janković: DDV bi dvignil za eno odstotno točko" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Pahor: V politiki sem od takrat, ko so "vse podgane bežale"" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  16. ^ "Ustanovljena Lista Zorana Jankovića - Pozitivna Slovenija" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  17. ^ "Republic of Slovenia Early Elections for Deputies to the National Assembly 2011". National Electoral Commission. 16 December 2011. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012.
  18. ^ Zoran Janković is not the party's president anymore ("Zoran Janković ni več predsednik stranke"), Delo, 17 January 2013
  19. ^ "STA: Positive Slovenia Joining ALDE". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  20. ^ "Positives Slowenien zieht Antrag auf ALDE-Mitgliedschaft zurück | Tiroler Tageszeitung Online - Nachrichten von jetzt!". www.tt.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014.
  21. ^ RTVSLO.si - "Sovražni" prevzem poslancev: Jože Velikonja in Saša Kos nazaj k Jankoviću
  22. ^ "Konec vlade Alenke Bratušek". Delo.si. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  23. ^ "EU volitve 2014 / 18".
  24. ^ Predčasne Volitve V Državni Zbor 2014 Republika Slovenija - Državna volilna komisija. Accessed 13 July 2014
  25. ^ "Anketa Dela: zmagoslavni vstop Jankovića in Viranta" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  26. ^ "Anketa IFIMES-a: Virant najprimernejši mandatar, SDS-u največ glasov" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  27. ^ "Janševi stranki za ovratnik diha Virantova, tretja je Jankovićeva" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  28. ^ "Nove stranke pometajo s starimi" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  29. ^ "Zoran Janković: Zmagati ne moreta ne Janša ne Pahor" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  30. ^ "Torej, kocka je padla, ljubljanski Jay-Z gre na volitve uničit levico" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  31. ^ "Janša: Janković naj direktno vstopi v igro in preveri svojo priljubljenost" (in Slovenian). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  32. ^ "Ostslowenen wollen sich vom Staat abspalten", Krone (in German), 14 October 2011, retrieved 6 November 2011
  33. ^ Thierjung, Irene (27 October 2011), "Slowenen haben Lust auf Veränderung", Kurier (in German), retrieved 6 November 2011

External links

  • Official website
  • v
  • t
  • e
National Assembly
Government
  • GS (41)
  • SD (7)
  • Left (5)
Confidence and supply
  • Italian and Hungarian national minorities (2)
Opposition
European Parliament