Former Slovene prime minister Lojze Peterle, who helped lead the country to independence from Yugoslavia and had hoped to return to power in a weekend presidential election, was forced into a run-off after receiving less than a third of votes.
The conservative Peterle "lost and won" Sunday's election, one newspaper said yesterday, noting that the former prime minister's backing was far weaker than had been expected.
The vote comes two months before the country takes over the rotating, six-month presidency of the EU.
None of the candidates for the nation's largely ceremonial presidency was expected to change course in Slovenia's ties with Europe or Washington.
RUN-OFF NECESSARY
With nearly all of the votes counted, Peterle was ahead with 28.5 percent, far short of the 50 percent needed for an outright victory, the Electoral Commission said.
Turnout was 57 percent.
"It was a tough, tough fight," Peterle said late on Sunday. "I'm pleased that I was able to move to the second round."
However, Peterle, a member of the European Parliament, acknowledged: "All of us expected better results today."
"Peterle moved into the run-off as a winner, even though he actually was the biggest loser," political analyst Meta Roglic wrote in the Dnevnik daily, noting that he had been expected to achieve a convincing lead.
Dnevnik's front page said: "Peterle lost and won."
Peterle, 59, a conservative, campaigned as an independent and has the backing of Prime Minister Janez Jansa's center-right government. He served as Slovenia's prime minister when the country declared independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991. He later served as foreign minister.
NO. 2 UNDECIDED
Longtime diplomat Danilo Tuerk could become Peterle's rival in the run-off, scheduled to be held on Nov. 11. Tuerk won 24.7 percent of votes -- 4 percent less than Peterle.
Former Central Bank governor Mitja Gaspari trailed Tuerk by less than a percentage point, and there was a slim chance he could move into the No. 2 position, as votes cast by Slovenians abroad may not be fully counted for another week.
Still, Tuerk, who was ambassador to the UN and is a former UN assistant secretary-general, was confident he would make the run-off, saying, "I'm satisfied. I was clearly placed in the second round."
Gaspari, who is credited with the country's smooth adoption of the euro currency in January, said he would not comment until all votes were counted.
While officially independent, Gaspari and Tuerk were each backed by a different center-left opposition party.
The results reflected the tight battle to replace longtime leader Janez Drnovsek -- prime minister from 1992 to 2002 and then the president -- who has decided to leave politics.
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS