On Wednesday of last week, Miro Cerar announced that he had decided to resign. “Dear citizens, today the situation in Slovenia is much better than it was in 2014. I’m returning the power into your hands,” he said. The reasons he mentioned were the decision of the Slovenian supreme court to repeal the referendum on the second track, disagreements within the coalition and the prevention of progress by “old forces”. He planned to inform the Slovenian president, Borut Pahor, about his resignation on Thursday.
“Today has been the last straw, the second track project has suffered another blow because of those that want to stop the positive development of Slovenia. I don’t wish to be involved in such stories,” a visibly agitated Cerar said after Wednesday’s session of the Slovenian government.
He explained that he had taken the decision to resign because it is necessary to know what is right and what is wrong. “It’s a responsibility that I accept and a decision that any trustworthy politician ought to take in such a situation. At the election, you’ll be the ones judging what’s right and what’s wrong and who deserves support,” he added. Cerar promised to make sure that the government deals with pending and urgent matters and that Slovenia remains peaceful and stable until a new government is elected.
Janša: Puppet masters will attempt to lead Cerar’s voters to new face
The president of the largest Slovenian opposition party SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party), Janez Janša, was not surprised by the resignation of Miro Cerar after the annulment of the referendum on the act on the second track. As he explained for TV Slovenija, there had also been other events which had suggested that there would not be a “normal election”, just like in 2011 and 2014.
“There were also other events which suggested that there would not be a normal election, just like in 2011 and 2014, and that they would try to shorten the term, cause as much chaos as possible and take advantage of the possibility to move Miro Cerar’s voters somewhere else or even establish a new face that would reliably carry out the same task of a puppet government, as in the case of Miro Cerar’s government,” Janša commented on Cerar’s resignation. According to Janša, Wednesday’s decision of the supreme court was also expected after the decision of the Slovenian constitutional court.
Procedure for resignation of Slovenian prime minister:
The law and the rules of procedure stipulate that the prime minister must notify the ministers about the resignation along with the president of the national assembly of Slovenia, who must be notified in writing. The notification of the resignation of the prime minister is put on the agenda of a session of the national assembly no later than seven days after the notification was received. The prime minister also has the right to explain his resignation in the national assembly. The national assembly does not vote on the resignation of the prime minister but only establishes that he or she has ceased to hold the office. The president of Slovenia then has 30 days to propose a candidate for the new prime minister to the national assembly. However, upon the resignation of Alenka Bratušek in 2014, the prevailing opinion was that the deadline could be shortened if all qualified proposers waive the opportunity to nominate a candidate for mandatary. If there is no new candidate for mandatary, this is also established formally by the national assembly, and then a new 14-day deadline starts during which a mandatary can be nominated by a deputy group or at least 10 deputies. If this is unsuccessful as well, it is followed by a third deadline of 48 hours, during which deputies can decide whether they will enter a third round of voting for the mandatary.
President of national assembly Brglez supports resignation
In response to the resignation of Cerar, the president of the national assembly and the vice-president of SMC (Modern Centre Party), Milan Brglez, wrote on Facebook that he agrees with the prime minister, pointing out that such a path is the most responsible given that virtually everyone is “halting the further development of the country in every way possible”.
C. Š.