Slovenia’s Opposition Launches Ouster Bid Against Trump-Ally Premier

(Bloomberg) -- Slovenia’s opposition filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Janez Jansa for pursuing an nationalist agenda.

Jansa, a vocal supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has faced months of anti-government protests over alleged corruption, attacks on the media and moves to consolidate power in the European Union member state.

Now his minority ruling coalition, which lost a key member party last month, is suffering from a plunge in popularity after a spike in deaths from coronavirus and criticism over how his administration has handled the pandemic.

“The government is loosing support, people are loosing patience and our Slovenia is loosing it’s future,” said Tanja Fajon, an EU parliament member and leader of the opposition Social Democrat party.

Opposition parties led by Karl Erjavec, the leader of the former coalition partner DeSuS, submitted the no-confidence motion on Friday. Erjavec is now trying to muster votes to form the nation’s third majority-backed cabinet since 2018 elections.

The outcome of the ouster bid remains uncertain. Even if successful, it could lead to early elections as Erjavec, who has often acted as kingmaker in the Balkan state’s politics but never premier, may struggle to find backing for a new government.

Jansa took power in March after his predecessor Marjan Sarec quit in a failed bid to force early elections. Jansa’s first order of business was to replace the heads of the army and the police, followed by sweeping changes in state owned institutions and companies.

While his government earned early praise for the way it handled the first wave of the pandemic, almost 3,000 people died in the current resurgence of cases, a high toll for the nation of 2.1 million.

Now support for Jansa’s government is hovering at around 30%, the lowest in two years.

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