October 22 (SeeNews) - Slovenian member of the European Parliament Lojze Peterle will most likely face former senior U.N. diplomat Danilo Turk in a run-off vote for president of the country that will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2008, partial results from the State Election Commission indicated on Monday.
If none of the seven candidates that ran for president on Sunday has won more than 50% of the vote, a run-off will be held on November 11.
Peterle, an independent candidate supported by three major parties from the centre-right government coalition, has got 28.54% of the valid 977,945 votes counted by 3 p.m. (0100 GMT) on Monday.
Turk, supported by centre-left parties, garnered 24.52% support, while Mitja Gaspari, a former Slovenian central bank governor, got 24.15%.
Turnout was around 57.19% of the 1.7 million eligible voters.
The State Election Commission is expected to release the final results on October 29 or 30 after it receives the votes cast by Slovenian citizens living abroad, a source from the Election Commission told SeeNews.
"Theoretically, these votes can influence the final results, but practically they cannot," the source said.
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 left-wing head of state, Janez Drnovsek, expires in December.