Slovenia is a democratic, legal and social state with a republican form of government. It is based on political pluralism and parliamentary democracy, on the observance of the principle of separation of powers. Power in the republic belongs to the people, it is exercised directly through referendums and through elections to government bodies. The Slovenian state is territorially united and indivisible. Check computerminus for political system of Slovenia.
The economic and social structure is based on pluralism of forms of ownership, respect for natural and cultural heritage, freedom of enterprise and labor, state concern for employment and social rights of the population, participation of workers in management, freedom of trade unions and the right of workers to strike.
The highest representative of the state is the President of the Republic, who is also the Supreme Commander of its Armed Forces. The president is elected in a general election for a term of 5 years, but no more than two consecutive terms.
Power in the country is divided into legislative, executive and judicial. The highest legislative body is the National Assembly, consisting of 90 deputies (including one representative each from the Italian and Hungarian communities), elected for 4 years. The highest advisory body – the State Council, includes 40 members elected for 5 years and representing various social, economic, professional and local interests.
The supreme body of executive power is the government of the republic, which is responsible to the State Assembly. The functions of state administration are performed by the ministries: foreign affairs, internal affairs, defense, justice, economy, labor, etc.
The highest judicial body in Slovenia is the Constitutional Court. 44 district, 11 district and 4 higher courts are directly involved in legal proceedings. There is also a Supreme Court. Specialized courts consider cases of individual and collective labor and social disputes.
The Slovenian State Prosecutor’s Office, headed by the Prosecutor General, brings and substantiates charges against criminals and exercises other powers in a civil dispute. Regional prosecutor’s offices operate in the places of activity of district courts, and supreme prosecutor’s offices work at higher courts.
An independent and independent judicial body in Slovenia is the bar (law 1993). A special legal service is represented by the notary (law 1994). There are public human rights defenders in the country who are mainly engaged in protecting the rights of citizens related to the privatization of public property and relations between different forms of ownership (Law on Public Rights Protection, 1995).
Citizens exercise local self-government in 147 communities of the country.
Political pluralism in Slovenia is guaranteed by the freedom of activity of political parties that first emerged in con. 1980s as an expression of the desire to democratize society. On the basis of the law on political associations of 1989, the socio-political unions and associations that existed in the country turned into classical parties.
Even before the change in the political system in 1990, pluralization also embraced the trade union movement. Now trade unions are represented in the State Council. Trade unions conclude with the government and employers social contracts on state. level, as well as collective agreements at the level of industries and enterprises.
Since 1980, civil society organizations (environmental, pacifist) began to appear in the republic, which in independent Slovenia turned into a whole network of non-governmental and non-political organizations, many of which are members of international organizations.
The most important internal political events in Slovenia in 2002 were the regular elections of the country’s president, representative bodies of local authorities and heads of local administration, members of the State Council, as well as the reorganization of the government.
The presidential election was won by the chairman of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) party Janez Drnovsek, who headed the Slovenian government for more than 10 years in a row (56.4% of the vote). His opponent, independent candidate Barbara Bresigar (43.6%), was supported by the opposition parties: the Social Democrats of Slovenia (SDS) and New Slovenia (NS). Slovenia’s first president, Milan Kucan, resigned on December 23, 2002 after the expiration of his double ten-year mandate. Borut Pahor was elected chairman of the new parliament.
The alignment of political forces in the country after the elections has not undergone significant changes. In the government coalition, consisting of 4 parties, the leading role is played by the LDS – 34 seats in parliament. The United List of Social Democrats (OSSD) has 11 seats, the Slovenian People’s Party (SNP) – 9 and the Democratic Party of Pensioners (DPP) – 4 mandates. With the actual support of two deputies from national minorities, the center-left coalition has 60 out of 90 seats in parliament, i.е. constitutional majority. Due to the large preponderance of forces, the LDS and its allies are able to continue to pursue their stable internal political course.
The ruling coalition makes decisions developed by the government, not particularly listening to the arguments of its opponents. Thus, the government was able to easily pass the state budget for 2003-04 through the parliament and allow the participation of foreign capital in the privatization of the largest banks. The approval of the new Prime Minister A. Ropa, who previously held the post of Minister of Finance, and the reorganization of the Cabinet of Ministers were quickly and smoothly passed. Dusan Mramor became the new Minister of Finance. Most of the members of the previous government retained their ministerial posts, including Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, Minister of Relations with Europe Janez Potočnik, Minister of Defense Anton Grizold, Minister of Economy Tea Petrin, Minister of Agriculture Franzi Bout, Minister of Health Dušan Keber,
Judging by the results of the past presidential and especially local elections, the right-wing opposition, which has only 21 seats in parliament (13 deputies from the SDS and 8 from the National Assembly), although it is increasing its popularity, does not yet pose a serious threat to the ruling elite.