A recently formed center-left party in Slovenia, started by a newcomer in politics, scored a landslide victory in a parliamentary election Sunday amid voters’ distrust in established parties and unease over state asset sales in this small euro zone-state, preliminary results of nearly 90% of votes counted by the State Election Commission showed. The result, if confirmed, can make Miro Cerar, a 50-year-old law professor, the country’s fourth prime minister since the 2008 start of a global downturn. Mr. Cerar, whose father is the country’s well-known Olympic medalist, launched his eponymous Party of Miro Cerar just five weeks ago. He quickly became popular among voters looking for a new leader untarnished by corruption scandals that have dogged some incumbent parties.
“Most current politicians have been at their posts for the past 20 years and they haven’t done much good, so I hope that this will now change thanks to Mr. Cerar,” said Lea Kamnikar, a public worker in Ljubljana, after casting her vote for the new party.
The preliminary polls showed that Mr. Cerar’s party won 34.8% of all votes cast, giving it the largest bloc in the 90-seat parliament, with 36 votes. Six other parties will hold the remaining seats. The partial results are in line the earlier released exit polls.
Final results are expected in late July after ballots cast by mail and Slovenians abroad are counted.
Full Article: Recently Formed Center-Left Party Wins Slovenian Parliamentary Election – WSJ.