Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05LJUBLJANA224
2005-04-05 10:08:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ljubljana
Cable title:  

SLOVENIA: ZLSD RE-ELECTS PAHOR AND CHANGES ITS NAME

Tags:  PGOV PINR ECON SI 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000224 

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: ZLSD RE-ELECTS PAHOR AND CHANGES ITS NAME


UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000224

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: ZLSD RE-ELECTS PAHOR AND CHANGES ITS NAME



1. (U) SUMMARY: On Saturday, April 2, 2005, the United
List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) held its Party Congress and
elected its leadership for the next four years. Members of
the Youth Wing won important positions, which will likely
move the party away from the center and more to the left.
The party members also strongly endorsed party President
Borut Pahor's proposal to change the name of the party to
the Social Democrats (SD). END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Current ZLSD (now SD) president Borut Pahor's rival
for the party presidency was Aljus Pertinac, a former
president of the party's Youth Wing. Not unexpectedly,
members of the Congress expressed strong support for Pahor,
voting for him 270-119.


3. (U) Despite Pertinac's defeat, the Youth Wing
successfully broke through at the Congress and secured
several important positions, including Secretary General.
Youth Wing candidate Uros Jausovec defeated Stasa Baloh
Plahutnik, former State Secretary at the Ministry of Labor,
256 votes to 139.


4. (U) Both Youth Wing candidates for vice-president, Luka
Juri and Igor Luksic, made it into the second round
elections with the latter winning the position with 241
votes. The second vice-president is Ms. Andreja Rihter,
former Minister of Culture, who secured 225 votes. Former
Minister of Labor, Vlado Dimovski, was elected president of
the party conference.


5. (U) The Congress also voted convincingly on Pahor's
proposal to change the party name from the United List of
Social Democrats (ZLSD) to Social Democrats (SD). In
addition to internal elections, the Congress also formed two
new bodies: The Council of the President of the Party,
similar to a shadow government, and the Strategic-Program
Council, which will be in charge of preparation of the
party's new strategic program.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


6. (SBU) Changing the name of the United List of Social
Democrats (ZLSD) to simply Social Democrats (SD) symbolizes
Pahor's consolidation of his party's identity as `the'
social democratic party in Slovenia. Several years ago,
when PM Jansa's Slovene Democratic Party (SDS) was the
Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (also SDS),Pahor
managed to beat out Jansa's bid and gain membership for the
ZLSD in the world organization of social democratic parties.
While a disappointment, this turn of events probably allowed
Jansa the leeway he needed to officially move his party to
the center-right and to change its name.


7. (SBU) The outcome of the Social Democrats' Party Congress
demonstrates a desire to remain firmly on the left of the
spectrum. The strong Youth Wing showing will force Pahor to
move a bit further left and away from the center, where he
has recently anchored itself. Pahor has long battled the
entrenched former Communist apparatchiks that filled
leadership roles in the past. Now, he will have to manage
youthful influences in order to fully develop his plans to
make the party into a more traditionally European social
democratic party. His ultimate goal is to assume leadership
of the political left in Slovenia, a position currently held
by the recently ousted prime minister, Anton Rop and the
Liberal Democracy (LDS) party.


8. (SBU) Pahor's personal goals also likely involve a bid
for the Presidency of the Republic in 2007. He has lately
been following the lead of current President Janez Drnovsek,
who in the run-up to his own presidential bid, became a less
combative, more conciliatory political figure. Pahor has
the name and face recognition, solid political credentials
and an even temperament that appeals to the Slovene voter.
He also has the ability to cooperate with both the left and
the right as demonstrated by his party's inclusion in the
last government coalition, and exploration of possibly
joining the current coalition last fall.


ROBERTSON


NNNN

2005LJUBLJ00224 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED



v1.6.2