October 21 (SeeNews) - Lojze Peterle is leading in Sunday’s elections for president of Slovenia, which will hold the rotating presidency of European Union in the first half of next year, partial results from the State Election Commission showed.
Peterle, an independent candidate supported by three major parties from the centre-right government coalition, got 28.3% of the 953,043 votes counted around two hours after the polls had closed.
Peterle will meet a centre-left candidate, either Danilo Turk or Mitja Gaspari, in a November 11 run-off vote.
Turk, a former senior U.N. diplomat, garnered 24.66% of the votes, while Gaspari, a former central bank governor, got 24.27%, according to partial data.
According to latest data, turnout was around 57% of some 1.7 million eligible voters.
The State Election Commission is expected to release final data on October 29.
Slovenia is a parliamentary republic in which the president has limited powers and his position is largely ceremonial, although he is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is limited to two consecutive five-year terms of office.
The term of the incumbent president, Janez Drnovsek, expires in December.