The history of Slovenia chronicles the period of the Slovenian territory from the 5th century BC to the present. In the Early Bronze Age, Proto-Illyrian tribes settled an area stretching from present-day Albania to the city of Trieste. The Slovenian territory was part of the Roman Empire, and it was devastated by the Migration Period's incursions during late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The main route from the Pannonian plain to Italy ran through present-day Slovenia. Alpine Slavs, ancestors of modern-day Slovenians, settled the area in the late 6th Century AD. The Holy Roman Empire controlled the land for nearly 1,000 years. Between the mid-14th century through 1918 most of Slovenia was under Habsburg rule. In 1918, most Slovene territory became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and in 1929 the Drava Banovina was created within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with its capital in Ljubljana, corresponding to Slovenian-majority territories within the state. The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was created in 1945 as part of federal Yugoslavia. Slovenia gained its independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991, and today it is a member of the European Union and NATO.
The politics of Slovenia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Slovenia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Government of Slovenia. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly and in minor part in the National Council. The judiciary of Slovenia is independent of the executive and the legislature. Slovenia is a Member State of the European Union and is represented in the Council of the EU and through elections to the European Parliament.
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia (2002–2007).
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.
The Slovenian People's Party is a conservative, agrarian, Christian democratic political party in Slovenia. Formed in 1988 under the name of Slovenian Peasant Union as the first democratic political organization in Yugoslavia, it changed its name to Slovenian People's Party in 1992. On 15 April 2000, it merged with the Slovene Christian Democrats to form the SLS+SKD Slovenian People's Party, and changed its name in 2001 to Slovenian People's Party.
New Slovenia – Christian Democrats is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Slovenia. Since 2018, it is led by Matej Tonin. The party was formed on 4 August 2000 following a split in the unified Slovenian People's Party and Slovene Christian Democrats (SLS+SKD). NSi is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and in the European Parliament its MEP Ljudmila Novak sits with the European People's Party Group.
The Social Democrats is a centre-left and pro-European social-democratic political party in Slovenia led by Matjaž Han. From 1993 until 2005, the party was known as the United List of Social Democrats. It is the successor of the League of Communists of Slovenia. As of 2022, the party is a member of a three-party coalition government with Robert Golob's Freedom Movement alongside The Left, as well as a full member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance.
The Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia is a political party in Slovenia led by Ljubo Jasnič. The party claims broadly liberal values with a strong focus on the interests of the retired and the elderly. Despite being part of virtually every governmental coalition of Slovenia since it started appearing on voting ballots, the party only secured 0.66% of all votes at the most recent Slovenian parliamentary election in 2022 and thus failed to secure any seats in the National Assembly.
Ivan Janša, baptized and best known as Janez Janša, is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since 1993, Janša has led the Slovenian Democratic Party, which has emerged as the pre-eminent Slovenian conservative party. Janša lost his fourth bid for prime minister in April 2022, his party defeated by the Freedom Movement party.
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.
Karl Viktor Erjavec is a Slovenian lawyer and politician who served in the government of Slovenia as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2018. He was the president of the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia, having held the position from 2005 to January 2020 and again from December 2020 until March 2021. He was Minister of Defense from 2004 to 2008 and 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning from 2008 to 2010.
Gregor Virant is a Slovenian politician and public servant. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as Minister of Public Administration in Janez Janša's first government, between 2011–2013 he was Speaker of the National Assembly of Slovenia. He also served as Minister of the Interior and Public Administration in the government of Alenka Bratušek between 2013 and 2014.
The Slovenian Democratic Union was a Slovene liberal political party, active between 1989 and 1991, during the democratization and the secession of the Republic of Slovenia from Yugoslavia.
Ciril Ribičič is a Slovenian jurist, politician and author. Since 2000, he has served as a member of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia.
2014 European Parliament elections were held in Slovenia on 25 May 2014. It was the first in the series of three elections held in the 2014, and the major test leading up to the parliamentary elections in July. The political atmosphere was in a crisis that started with the fall of Borut Pahor's government, then Janez Janša's government in 2013, the latter coming after Janša was accused of corruption. The cabinet of Alenka Bratušek was breaking up, as the former leader of the Positive Slovenia Zoran Janković, who was under the suspicion of corruption, announced his candidature for party president, even though the coalition parties threatened to leave the government if he was to be elected, which later he was.
The 12th Government of Slovenia, led by Prime Minister Miro Cerar, was announced on 18 September 2014. It was formed following the 2014 parliamentary election won by the centre-left Party of Miro Cerar; it was the third government formed over four years. At 51 years, Cerar was the second oldest Prime Minister of Slovenia since Independence, following Andrej Bajuk at 56 years. The cabinet had on the day of inauguration the highest number of women ministers representatives, as there were seven women ministers out of sixteen ministers in total. Cerar's cabinet was the highest educated cabinet to date, with six members with a doctorate.
The 11th Government of Slovenia led by Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek was announced on 20 March 2013. It was the 11th cabinet of Slovenia. It has been formed after the parliament voted a no confidence vote to Janša's cabinet after SLS, DL and DeSUS left his coalition. On 27 February 2013 Alenka Bratušek was voted as the next mandatary and so became the first woman to do so in modern Slovenian history.
The 8th Government of Slovenia led by Prime Minister Janez Janša was announced on 3 December 2004. The government was formed after the 2004 Slovenian parliamentary election. It was the first government of Janez Janša, and third centre-right government in the history of the Republic of Slovenia. Slovenian Democratic Party won on the elections 29% of the votes and so became the strongest parliamentary party in the National Assembly. The party nominated Janez Janša as the candidate for the mandatary, who was confirmed by the president Janez Drnovšek. It was one of the most stable governments of Slovenia, which ruled in the times of the greatest economical boom. In 2004–2006, the economy grew on average by nearly 5% a year in Slovenia; in 2007, it expanded by almost 7%. The growth surge was fuelled by debt, particularly among firms, and especially in construction. The price for a boom that veered out of control has been paid in years from 2009 onwards.
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 24 April 2022 to elect all 90 members of the National Assembly.
Aleksandra Pivec is a Slovenian chemical engineer and politician who served as the country's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food from 2018 to 2020 and Deputy Prime Minister from March to October 2020.
