{"id":352806,"date":"2026-03-22T20:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T20:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352806\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T20:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T20:37:08","slug":"slovenias-ruling-liberals-edge-populists-but-election-still-too-close-to-call-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352806\/","title":{"rendered":"Slovenia\u2019s ruling liberals edge populists, but election still too close to call \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If Jan\u0161a, who has expressed admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump, were to lead the country again, it would give Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n another ally in the European Council.<\/p>\n<p>In remarks Sunday night at his party headquarters, Jan\u0161a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sta.si\/3536862\/za-janso-vzporedne-volitve-pricakovan-rezultat-ki-ponuja-dve-alternativi-za-sestavo-vlade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said the results<\/a> show Slovenia has two choices: Either the incumbent liberal-left coalition could continue to govern, or a new right-wing coalition under SDS could take the reins.<\/p>\n<p>Liberalism vs. illiberalism<\/p>\n<p>Slovenes went to the polls\u00a0after a\u00a0dramatic\u00a0campaign\u00a0that\u00a0in its final stretch\u00a0was\u00a0less about bread-and-butter\u00a0issues than allegations of election interference.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267377170-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8152196\"  \/>Former Prime Minister Janez Jan\u0161a is pictured in Arna\u010de, Slovenia on March 22, 2026. | Jure Makovec\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Jan\u0161a, a veteran\u00a0politician who has served multiple terms as prime minister, campaigned on lower taxes\u00a0and stronger governance, while Golob\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/europe-fightback-right-wing-populism-slovenia-hungary-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">sought\u00a0to frame the election\u00a0in an interview with POLITICO<\/a>\u00a0as a choice between\u00a0liberal\u00a0democratic values and Jan\u0161a\u2019s\u00a0Hungary-style illiberalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Leaked audio and video recordings\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/black-cube-leak-tape-corruption-israel-spy-firm-slovenia-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">published earlier this month<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0apparently designed\u00a0to tie Golob\u2019s government to corruption showed prominent Slovenian figures, including a former minister,\u00a0apparently discussing\u00a0illegal lobbying and the misuse of state funds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Slovenian authorities said Israeli\u00a0private intelligence\u00a0firm Black Cube had carried out illegal surveillance and wiretapping\u00a0and has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/n1info.si\/novice\/slovenija\/sova-potrdila-da-so-bili-trije-izraelski-paraobvescevalci-11-decembra-na-sedezu-sds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">visited SDS headquarters in December<\/a>. Jan\u0161a<a href=\"https:\/\/english.sta.si\/3535845\/jansa-admits-contact-with-black-cube-adviser-denies-election-role\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"> acknowledged he had\u00a0been\u00a0in contact<\/a>\u00a0with a figure linked to the firm, but denied hiring them to dig up dirt\u00a0on the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Jan\u0161a, who has expressed admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump, were to lead the country again, it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16731,4410,70165,7609,42,117668,169252,29647,171482,43,10496,17079,40,38,41,39,4447,142754],"class_list":["post-352806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-corruption","tag-elections","tag-elections-in-europe","tag-governance","tag-headlines","tag-hybrid-threats","tag-janez-jansa","tag-lobbying","tag-marta-kos","tag-news","tag-slovenia","tag-surveillance","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-yugoslavia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352806","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=352806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}