Next Slovenian parliamentary election

Last updated

Next Slovenian parliamentary election
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  2022 By 24 April 2026

All 90 seats in the National Assembly
46 seats needed for a majority
 
Robert Golob - (2024) (cropped).jpg
Jansa furthermore cropped.jpg
Informal meeting Vrtovec (cropped) (cropped).jpg
Leader Robert Golob Janez Janša Jernej Vrtovec
Party Svoboda SDS NSi
Leader since26 January 202215 May 199313 September 2025
Last election34.45%, 41 seats23.48%, 27 seats6.86%, 8 seats
Current seats39248

 
Izjava za medije po koncanem vrhu koalicije - Matjaz Han - 12.9.2024 (cropped).jpg
Izjava za medije po koncanem vrhu koalicije - Asta Vrecko - 12.9.2024 (cropped2).jpg
124. seja Vlade RS dr Anze Logar.jpg
Leader Matjaž Han Asta Vrečko Anže Logar
Party SD Levica Democrats
AllianceLevica and Vesna
Leader since16 April 20242 September 202316 November 2024
Last election6.69%, 7 seats4.46%, 5 seatsNew
Current seats843

Incumbent Prime Minister

Robert Golob
GS



Parliamentary elections are to be held in Slovenia no later than 24 April 2026. It will determine the composition of the National Assembly, which determines the government of Slovenia.

Contents

Background

The 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election resulted in a landslide victory for the Freedom Movement, a newly established liberal party led by Robert Golob, a former energy executive. The party won 41 seats, the highest number for a single party since Slovenian independence. The incumbent Slovenian Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Janez Janša, placed second with 27 seats, marking a significant defeat. New Slovenia – Christian Democrats came third with 8 seats, followed by the Social Democrats with 7 seats, and The Left with 5 seats. Only five parties gained parliamentary representation, the fewest since independence; by contrast, nine parties won seats in the 2018 election.

2022 Presidential election

By late 2022, as the presidential election approached, parties began announcing their candidates for the post. [1] Freedom Movement and the Social Democrats originally backed former speaker of the National Assembly and then MEP Milan Brglez, while The Left supported their then MP Miha Kordiš. Although with no support from the governing coalition, but with support of former president Milan Kučan, former lawyer, journalist and human rights advocate Nataša Pirc Musar placed second in the first round, while the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party supported former foreign minister Anže Logar, who placed first in the first round. [2] In the second round, held on 13 November 2022 coalition united around Pirc Musar, who defeated Logar with 54% of the vote, becoming the first female president of Slovenia. [3]

2022 local elections

On 20 November 2022, the first round of local (municipal) elections was held in Slovenia, followed by the second round on 4 December 2022. Voters elected mayors and municipal councillors in all 212 municipalities. The elections resulted in several notable changes: long-time Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković was re-elected for a sixth term, while in Maribor, incumbent mayor Saša Arsenovič won re-election in the second round. In many smaller municipalities, independent candidates once again achieved strong results, confirming the traditionally high support for non-partisan local leaders in Slovenia.

2024 European Parliament election

In June 2024, European Parliament elections took place. The opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) came first with 4 seats, while the ruling Freedom Movement followed with 2 seats. Social Democrats (SD), the green party Vesna – Green Party and New Slovenia (NSi) each secured 1 seat. [4]

Campaign

On 17 July 2025, The Left and the Vesna announced that they would participate in the next election with a joint candidate list. [5] [6] On 21 August 2025, For a Healhty Society and the satirical party None of the above also confirmed an electoral alliance. [7]

By late August 2025, it was reported that internal discussions within New Slovenia (NSi) could lead to a leadership change, with either Jernej Vrtovec or Anton Harej emerging as possible successors to the incumbent president Matej Tonin. [8] Following the party congress, Vrtovec replaced Tonin as president with about 85 % support. [9] [10] He also renewed talks about a possible coalition with the SLS.

In Freedom Movement, parliamentary speaker Urška Klakočar Zupančič initially expressed interest in running for the party presidency, but later withdrew her candidacy. [11] As a result, Robert Golob secured another mandate as party president. [12]

Meanwhile, Suvereni and Gibanje Zedinjena Slovenija have been reported in political commentary as likely to form a joint nationalist coalition ahead of the elections. They advocate for Slovenia’s exit from the European Union (so-called SLOEXIT) and a national referendum on NATO membership. [13]

Electoral system

Voting eligibility

In order to vote in elections to the National Assembly of Slovenia, individuals must meet specific criteria. Voting rights are general and equal, meaning that:

The principle of equal suffrage emphasizes that no individual’s vote is more important than another’s. The only exception to this principle applies to the voting rights of the Italian and Hungarian national communities, each of which is guaranteed one representative in the National Assembly. Voters from these communities also vote for other members of the National Assembly.

The voting rights of members of the Italian and Hungarian communities are specifically regulated. Only individuals belonging to these communities have the right to vote for and be elected as their respective community’s representative; this right does not extend to all citizens. [14]

Voting method and seat allocation

The 90 members of the National Assembly are elected by two methods. 88 are elected by open list proportional representation in eight 11-seat constituencies and seats are allocated to the parties at the constituency level using the Droop quota. The elected Deputies are identified by ranking all of a party's candidates in a constituency by the percentage of votes they received in their district. The seats that remain unallocated are allocated to the parties at the national level using the D'Hondt method with an electoral threshold of 4%. [15] Although the country is divided into 88 electoral districts, deputies are not elected from all 88 districts. More than one deputy is elected in some districts, which results in some districts not having an elected deputy (for instance, 21 of 88 electoral districts did not have an elected deputy in the 2014 elections). [16] Parties must have at least 35% of their lists from each gender, except in cases where there are only three candidates. For these lists, there must be at least one candidate of each gender. [17] [18]

Two additional deputies are elected by the Italian and Hungarian minorities via the Borda count. [19] [15]

Date of the election

Under the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the National Assembly Elections Act (Zakon o volitvah v državni zbor), the President of Slovenia is responsible for calling elections to the National Assembly. In the case of regular elections, the President must issue a decree no earlier than 135 days and no later than 60 days before the end of the Assembly’s four-year term. [20]

The term of the National Assembly begins with its first session, typically held shortly after election results are confirmed. The election itself must be held no later than two months before the expiry of the current term. [21]

If the National Assembly is dissolved early—for instance, due to the failure to elect a Prime Minister or a successful vote of no confidence—the President must call a snap election, which must be held within 60 days of the dissolution. There is no fixed rule on when the new term begins in such cases, but it follows the Assembly’s first session after the vote.

For the 2022 parliamentary elections, the President signed the decree on 9 February 2022, setting the election date for 24 April 2022. Meaning the next regular election must be held by 24 April 2026 at the latest, unless the Assembly is dissolved earlier.

Parties and coalitions

Parties in Parliament

The following parties and lists have seats in the current National Assembly before the election:

Abbr.Party/ListIdeologyPolitical positionLeader2022 resultCurrent seatsStatus
Votes (%)2022 election
GS Freedom Movement
Gibanje svoboda
Social liberalism Centre to Centre-left Robert Golob 34.5%
41 / 90
39 / 90
Governing coalition
SDS Slovenian Democratic Party
Slovenska demokratska stranka
National conservatism Right-wing Janez Janša 23.5%
27 / 90
24 / 90
Opposition
NSi New Slovenia
Nova Slovenija
Christian democracy Centre-right Jernej Vrtovec 6.9%
8 / 90
8 / 90
SD Social Democrats
Socialni demokrati
Social democracy Centre-left Matjaž Han 6.7%
7 / 90
8 / 90
Governing coalition
Levica and VesnaAlliance of Levica and Vesna
Zavezništvo Levice in Vesne
The Left
Levica
Democratic socialism Left-wing Asta Vrečko 4.5%
5 / 90
4 / 90
Vesna - Green Party
Vesna - zelena stranka
Green politics Centre-left Urša Zgojznik
Uroš Macerl
1.4%
0 / 90
0 / 90
Extra-parliamentary
D. Democrats
Demokrati
Conservative liberalism Centre to centre-right Anže Logar New
0 / 90
3 / 90
Opposition
SUV Sovereign
Suvereni
Populism Right-wing Dejan Kaloh New
0 / 90
1 / 90
NEP Independents
Nepovezani poslanci
0 / 90
1 / 90

Other parties

Opinion polls

LOESS curve of polling conducted, excluding undecided voters. Opinion polling for the next Slovenian parliamentary election.svg
LOESS curve of polling conducted, excluding undecided voters.

Opinion polling for the next Slovenian parliamentary election is being carried out continually by various organisations to gauge voting intention. The dates for these opinion polls range from the 2022 Parliamentary election on 24 April to the present day.

References

  1. "Predsedniške volitve 2022: znani kandidati". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). 20 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  2. "Pirc Musar in Logar v drugi krog predsedniških volitev". Delo.si (in Slovenian). 23 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  3. "Nataša Pirc Musar elected Slovenia's first female president". BBC News. 13 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  4. "Freedom Movement comes out on top in EU election". STA. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  5. "Levica in Vesna skupaj". Levica (in Slovenian). 17 June 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  6. "Je prihodnost zeleno-leva? Levica in Vesna za koalicijo | 24ur.com". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  7. "Pomembno obvestilo - Za zdravo družbo in Nič od tega". Facebook.com. 21 August 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  8. "NSi pred možno zamenjavo vodstva". Delo.si. 28 August 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  9. "NOVI PREDSEDNIK POSTAL JERNEJ VRTOVEC" . Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  10. "Vajeti stranke NSi prevzel Jernej Vrtovec, vrnitev Ljudmile Novak" . Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  11. "Klakočar Zupančič izstopila iz tekme, Golob ostaja edini kandidat | 24ur.com". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  12. "Golob re-elected Freedom Movement president" . Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  13. https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/preberite-tudi/kaloh-in-sisko-predlagata-izstop-slovenije-iz-eu-ja/758915
  14. "Splošno o volitvah: Državna volilna komisija". www.dvk-rs.si. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  15. 1 2 National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia Archived 2020-09-13 at the Wayback Machine State Election Commission
  16. "Imamo sploh legalno volilno zakonodajo za državni zbor?". Časnik Večer d.o.o. (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  17. Electoral system Archived 2016-11-21 at the Wayback Machine IPU
  18. "Zakon o volitvah v državni zbor (ZVDZ)". pisrs. Archived from the original on 7 February 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  19. "Navodila in rokovnik - DZ 2018 | Državna volilna komisija". Državna volilna komisija. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  20. "Zakon o volitvah v državni zbor (ZVDZ)". Zakonodaja.si. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  21. "Ustava Republike Slovenije" (PDF). Ustavno sodišče RS. Retrieved 21 June 2025.