SLOVENIA ELECTS DANILO TUERK NEW PRESIDENT IN LANDSLIDE

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000707

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA ELECTS DANILO TUERK NEW PRESIDENT IN LANDSLIDE

REF: Ljubljana 665, Ljubljana 662, Ljubljana 513


1. (U) On November 11, Slovenians voted in the second round of
presidential elections and overwhelmingly elected center-left
candidate Danilo Tuerk the new president of the republic for a
five-year term. According to unofficial preliminary results, Tuerk
won with a strong majority of nearly 70 percent of votes. His
opponent Lojze Peterle, whom the coalition government had supported,
got slightly more than 30 percent in a 57.78 percent turnout (high
for a second round). Although the State Electoral Commission will
accept all 43,709 ballots coming from abroad until November 19,
these ballots should not change the results. Tuerk, a former
Slovenian Ambassador to the UN and later a high-level UN official,
will take office on December 23, 2007.


2. (SBU) Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who was in China on an official
trip on election day, commented only briefly on the outcome by
congratulating Tuerk for victory and saying that "elections are a
time when people say what they wish and express their free will."
Jansa also expressed his wish for "cooperation with the new
president in working for the welfare of Slovenia." Comment: Jansa's
November 13 suggestion that the government might resign as a result
of its big loss in an election day referendum about partial
privatization of the national insurance company might be an attempt
at spin. Jansa might have meant to portray the government as the
victim in a day where voters cast their votes for president as well
as the referendum. End comment.


3. (U) Borut Pahor, the head of opposition and a supporter of Tuerk,
commented that Peterle made two crucial mistakes in these
presidential elections. The first was the very early announcement
of his candidacy without consulting his colleagues from the
coalition; the second was Peterle's strong negative campaign just
before the second round voting. Some representatives of the
opposition view Tuerk's big win as a good predictor for next year's
national elections. Minister of Finance Bajuk, who also heads the
coalition party NSi, and other coalition members worried that the
results showed a "critical relation of voters towards the
right-of-center political option."


4. COMMENT (SBU): Peterle's tactic of pushing his coalition partners
into a corner by announcing his candidacy without consulting them
forced only their grudging support. His decision before the second
round to resort to a negative campaign and attack Tuerk caused two
reactions. He polarized the political field on the left and right -
something that he had sought to avoid during the first round
explaining that he wanted to be the president who would unify and
not divide people. Secondly, he made Tuerk a victim of attack and
thus sympathetic to voters, who punished Peterle for his negative
campaign. Voters also likely recognized that with Danilo Tuerk
Slovenia gets a calm, cosmopolitan president who is a strong
supporter of the rule of law. Tuerk's strong mandate might give him
extra power in promoting values that he believes in. With his great
diplomatic experience he should play an important role in assuring a
successful Slovene presidency of the EU in the first half of 2008.
END COMMENT.

COLEMAN