{"id":352040,"date":"2026-03-22T09:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352040\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:02:08","slug":"slovenia-goes-to-polls-in-election-marked-by-claims-of-anti-romany-rhetoric-slovenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352040\/","title":{"rendered":"Slovenia goes to polls in election marked by claims of anti-Romany rhetoric | Slovenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigners in Slovenia<\/a> have warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country heads to the polls on Sunday, leaving many bracing for the outcome of a vote that has become, in part, a referendum on how the country treats its most marginalised.<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s vote, the prime minister, Robert Golob, of the centre-left Freedom Movement party, faces off against the rightwing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Jan\u0161a.<\/p>\n

Polls suggest Jan\u0161a\u2019s Slovenian Democratic party has a narrow lead, though neither candidate appears likely to secure a majority in the country\u2019s 90-seat parliament.<\/p>\n

In the months leading up to the elections, much of the focus has been on accusations of graft and access to public services, including health care.<\/p>\n

Questions of social policy have also threaded through the campaign, with campaigners accusing both Golob and Jan\u0161a of scapegoating the country\u2019s Romany minority. Golob\u2019s government was accused<\/a> last year of treating Romany people as a security threat, while Jan\u0161a, athree-time former prime minister, has claimed they benefit from a double standard when it comes to rights and equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Roma are facing two evils here in the election,\u201d said Zvonko Golobi\u010d, who heads the Association for the Development of the Roma Community in the south-eastern town of \u010crnomelj. \u201cSo the question is: who is less evil?\u201d<\/p>\n

Slovenia\u2019s population of about 2.1 million includes an estimated 12,000 Roma. Many are singularly vulnerable: in 2020, Amnesty International said that life expectancy for Roma in Slovenia was 22 years lower than the rest of the population, and infant mortality more than four times higher. Several communities in the country continue to lack access to clean drinking water, electricity and sanitation as well as basic infrastructure and essential services.<\/p>\n

The election \u2013 and the discourse about Roma that has swirled in previous months \u2013 has left many worried that the community\u2019s rights will be further eroded, said Haris Tahirovi\u0107, the president of an umbrella group representing Romany communities across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this moment Roma are really afraid of who will come to power, what the political options will be, and what will happen after the elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A polling station in Slovenia\u2019s capital, Ljubljana. Early voting in the election opened last week. Photograph: Borut \u017divulovi\u010d\/Reuters<\/p>\n

In November, the government passed a law that, in the view of campaigners, turned some Romany neighbourhoods into \u201csecurity zones\u201d by giving police power<\/a> to enter homes in so-called \u201chigh-risk\u201d areas and conduct raids without a warrant.<\/p>\n

The \u201c\u0160utar law\u201d was introduced after the death of Ale\u0161 \u0160utar, who was killed in an altercation linked to members of the Romany community.<\/p>\n

While Golob has said the measures are not aimed at \u201cany particular ethnic group but against crime itself\u201d, critics including Amnesty International have said they disproportionately affect the Romany community.<\/p>\n

Esther Major, Amnesty\u2019s deputy director for research in Europe<\/a>, said in a statement last November: \u201cWhile not explicitly aimed at the Roma population, the vitriolic rhetoric used by the government to justify these measures raises serious fears that they would be deployed arbitrarily and discriminatorily against the Roma population.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoupled with the security crackdown, punitive restrictions on social benefits could further penalise the most marginalised families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tahirovi\u0107 said it was little coincidence that Golob introduced the law in the run-up to the election. \u201cHe used it to scapegoat Roma because he recognised Roma as the easiest target to attack in order to save his place as prime minister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even so, campaigners said it was likely that Jan\u0161a \u2013 an ally of Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n, whose previous term in power was marked by attacks<\/a> on media and migrants \u2013 would leave the community worse off. \u201cHe would be even more radical,\u201d said Golobi\u010d, who is standing as a candidate for the newly formed We, Socialists! party, which is expected to receive about 1% of the vote in the election. \u201cThe stakes are high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Sunday\u2019s election, Jan\u0161a suggested he would push for harsher sentences for Roma and potentially increase the number of areas designated \u201chigh risk\u201d, meaning more Romany settlements could be targeted by security measures.<\/p>\n

Jan\u0161a has also vowed to cut funding for civil society, a move that could hinder the ability of the Romany community to organise and speak up about issues that affect them. Tahirovi\u0107 said: \u201cWe\u2019re not asking for anything other than to be an equal part of this society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election contest has heated up in recent weeks, after leaked audio and video recordings purporting to expose government corruption were published on an anonymous website. Golob has denied the claims.<\/p>\n

This week an investigation alleged that Jan\u0161a met individuals<\/a> in December linked to the Israeli spy company Black Cube, sparking questions as to whether the agency, best known for working with Harvey Weinstein to allegedly quash reporting<\/a> on allegations of sexual misconduct, was behind the anonymous website. Jan\u0161a has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Commentators have warned that the polarising campaign, pitting the populist Jan\u0161a against Golob, the centre-left incumbent, has left the country at a crossroads.<\/p>\n

Robert Botteri, an editor at the magazine Mladina, told Reuters: \u201cThese are \u2026 perhaps the most important elections ever in Slovenia because they will decide if Slovenia remains a democratic welfare state or it aligns with illiberal democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners in Slovenia have warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country heads to the polls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-352040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}