![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Do you support the implementation of the Water Law Amendment Act (ZV-1G) adopted by the National Assembly at its session on March 30, 2021? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
![]() |
---|
UN Member State Contents |
A referendum on amendments to the Waters Act was held in Slovenia on 11 July 2021. According to the environmental activists and the domain experts, the provisions of the law would have detrimental effects on the environment and on clean water. [1] With one of the highest turnouts in recent history, the Act was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. [2]
In March 2021, the National Assembly passed the Waters Act, despite strong criticism from the experts and civil society. [3] While Slovenia’s Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning claimed that the provisions of the Waters Act prohibited the construction of industrial facilities and private buildings on the banks of rivers and lakes, environmental activists instead argued that the changes to the 37th paragraph would loosen the rules and allow construction of hotels and malls in coastal areas and on river and lake banks, polluting the sources of drinking water. [4]
Per article 90 of the Constitution, 40,000 voters can require the National Assembly to call for a referendum to reject a law that was ratified by the Assembly. The law is rejected if a majority of voters who have cast valid votes vote against the law, provided at least one fifth of all qualified voters have voted against the law. [5] A minimum of 20% of the voters (around 343,000 voters of about 1.7 million registered voters) are required to cast a valid "no" vote for a negative result of the referendum to be valid.
Following amendments to the Water Act, environmental organisations collected 52,230 signatures calling for a referendum, [1] exceeding the 40,000 signatures required to force a referendum on the law. The referendum was scheduled to take place on 11 July 2021. [4] [6]
In the referendum campaign, both sides claimed that they want to protect clean water. Andrej Vizjak, the Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, argued that the law prohibits construction of factories and private houses on the shore, a provision already contained in the existing law. The new law would also improve flood management and prevention. This position was supported by the government parties, Slovenian Democratic Party, New Slovenia, and Modern Centre Party. On the other hand, the environmental and civil society groups joined together in a "Movement for Drinkable Water" warned of several legal loopholes that would actually allow construction of facilities on the shores, including restaurants and hotels, and could prevent access to the shore to the general public, increase flood risks and damage the water supply. Opponents to the law included experts in water management, opposition political parties, as well as research organizations, the Faculty of Civil Engineering of University of Ljubljana, and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] The opponents of the law claimed that the pamphlet which the government parties sent to the citizens was full of inaccuracies and was aimed at confusing people. [12] The ombudsman warned that the law was passed too fast and without involvement of experts, which prevented the public from getting involved in drafting the law. [8]
Early voting began on 6 July. Over 54 000 people (3.21%) cast early votes, with long queues being reported in front of voting stations. [13] [14] Civil initiatives warned of several problems in the voting process. The portal for electronic voter registration was often unavailable and several voters living abroad reported they did not receive their ballots by mail or the ballots contained errors or were even empty. [15] The elderly living at retirement homes complained they received instructions for voting by mail only hours before the deadline. Because of that, the union of taxi drivers offered the elderly free transport to voting stations in Ljubljana, Maribor, and Koper. [16]
The voter turnout was above 46% and the Waters Act was overwhelmingly rejected with over 86% of people voting against it. This was the second highest turnout for a referendum to repeal a law, only behind the 2007 privatisation referendum, at 58%, that was held together with the runoff of the presidential election. [17]
In the reactions after the announcement of the results, Igor Zorčič, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Slovenia, stated that the outcome showed that the public did not support either the law or Janša's cabinet in general. Tanja Fajon, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats stated that they were seriously considering another vote of no confidence in the Assembly. [18] In his reaction, Vizjak told public broadcaster TV Slovenia that the referendum was misused and the government's goals misinterpreted, as well as that the vote against the Waters Act was also a vote against the government, [19] but the position of the Slovenian Democratic Party was that he did need to resign. The other two government parties did not comment on the results immediately. [20] [18] Nika Kovač from the Institute 8 March group that campaigned against the changes stated that "It has been shown that Slovenia is home to compassionate and tolerant people who help each other and fight for the public good and for nature". [20] Political analyst Andraž Zorko interpreted the results as an expression of public dissatisfaction with the government and claimed that the government now lacks legitimacy. A high voter turnout was also viewed as the result of involvement of younger voters as the Waters Act addressed several environmental issues. [21] [22]
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
For | 104,312 | 13.25 | |
Against | 682,760 | 86.75 | |
Total | 787,072 | 100.00 | |
Valid votes | 787,072 | 99.76 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 1,896 | 0.24 | |
Total votes | 788,968 | 100.00 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,698,642 | 46.45 | |
Source: Volitve |
The Slovenian Democratic Party, formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia, is a conservative parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported members in 2013.
Borut Pahor is a Slovenian politician who served as President of Slovenia from 2012 to 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from 2008 to 2012.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Slovenia since 9 July 2022 in accordance with a ruling from the Constitutional Court of Slovenia. The court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriages violated the Constitution of Slovenia and gave the Slovenian Parliament six months to amend the law to align with the ruling, although the decision took effect immediately after publication. The National Assembly passed legislation on 4 October 2022, which was vetoed by the National Council one week later, but the veto was then overridden by the National Assembly on 18 October 2022.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Slovenia have significantly evolved over time, and are considered among the most advanced in Eastern Europe. Slovenia was the first post-communist country to have legalised same-sex marriage, and anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation and gender identity have existed nationwide since 2016.
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia in October and November 2007 to elect the successor to the second President of Slovenia Janez Drnovšek. France Cukjati, the President of the National Assembly, called the elections on 20 June 2007.
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 4 December 2011 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. This was the first early election in Slovenia's history. The election was surprisingly won by the center-left Positive Slovenia party, led by Zoran Janković. However, he failed to be elected as the new Prime Minister in the National Assembly, and the new government was instead formed by a right-leaning coalition of five parties, led by Janez Janša, the president of the second-placed Slovenian Democratic Party. The voter turnout was 65.60%.
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia on 11 November 2012, with a run-off held on 2 December. Slovenia's 1.7 million registered voters chose between the incumbent president Danilo Türk, the SDS/NSi party candidate Milan Zver and Borut Pahor of the Social Democrats who was also supported by the Civic List. The first round was won, contrary to the opinion poll predictions, by Pahor, with Türk placing second. In the run-off election, Pahor won with roughly two-thirds of the vote.
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 13 July 2014 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. The early election, less than three years after the previous one, was called following the resignation of Alenka Bratušek's government in May. Seventeen parties participated, including seven new parties, some of which formed only months before the election took place. Party of Miro Cerar (SMC), a new party led by lawyer and professor Miro Cerar, won the election with over 34% of the vote and 36 seats. Seven political parties won seats in the National Assembly. Three political parties left the Assembly, including Zoran Janković's Positive Slovenia, the winner of the 2011 election. A leftist United Left party entered the Assembly for the first time, winning six seats.
A referendum on a bill legalising same-sex marriage was held in Slovenia on 20 December 2015. The bill was rejected, as a majority of voters voted against and the votes against were more than 20% of registered voters.
In the run up to the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, various organisations carry out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Slovenia. Results of such polls are displayed in this article.
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia on 22 October 2017. Nine candidates ran in the first round of the elections, in which the incumbent independent President Borut Pahor placed first and Marjan Šarec of the List of Marjan Šarec (LMŠ) placed second. No candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, resulting in a run-off between Pahor and that was held on 12 November 2017. Pahor won the run-off with 53% of the vote; voter turnout in the second round was 42.13%, the lowest in any presidential election since independence.
The Left is an eco-socialist and democratic socialist political party in Slovenia. The party was established on 24 June 2017 by the merger of the Party for Sustainable Development of Slovenia (TRS) and Initiative for Democratic Socialism (IDS). The party is a successor of the left-wing electoral alliance, the United Left.
A referendum on a law governing the Divača-Koper rail upgrade was held in Slovenia on 24 September 2017. The referendum was marked by a low turnout; a majority of voters voted in favour of the proposed law. The results were annulled by the Supreme Court in March 2018, resulting in a new referendum being held in 13 May 2018.
In the run up to the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election, various organizations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Slovenia. Results of such polls are displayed in this article. The date range for these opinion polls are from the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, held on 3 June, to the present day. The next parliamentary election was held on 24 April 2022.
A referendum on a law governing the Divača-Koper rail upgrade was held in Slovenia on 13 May 2018. It followed the annulment of the results of a 2017 referendum on the same subject by the Supreme Court in March 2018. The result saw just 309 more votes cast against the law (50.06%) than in favour (49.94%). Voter turnout was even lower than in 2017, at around 15%, meaning that the requirement of 20% of the electorate casting a "no" vote to validate the referendum outcome was not met. As a result, the law remained in force.
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 24 April 2022 to elect all 90 members of the National Assembly.
Vili Kovačič is a Slovenian impact litigation activist and blogger, who was the first in Europe to successfully challenge a referendum result based on a campaign finance violation. His challenge resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Miro Cerar and early parliamentary elections in 2018. His successful challenges to elections and referendums resulted in Constitutional Court reforming Slovenian electoral laws and practices.
Slavko Vesenjak is a Slovenian lawyer. He is the author of scientific articles and a lecturer. He has represented several high-profile cases before the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. He was a member of the National Electoral Commission.
The Freedom Movement is a social liberal political party in Slovenia. It was founded on 26 January 2022, as the successor of the Party of Green actions (Z.DEJ). At the January congress, Robert Golob was elected as the party's first president and the party received its new identity and name.
In the run-up to the next Slovenian parliamentary election, various organisations carry out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Slovenia. Results of such polls are displayed in this article.