November 20 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's centre-right coalition government has won a confidence vote sought by Prime Minister Janez Jansa after the candidate backed by parties from the coalition lost presidential elections, state-run broadcaster TV Slovenija reported.
Fifty-one members of the 90-seat chamber voted in favour of the government, while 33 voted against it on Monday night.
Last week Jansa said he did not rule out the possibility of his cabinet resigning after Danilo Turk, supported by centre-left parties, won last Sunday's run-off vote for president of the Alpine country. Two days later, Jansa said in an interview for TV Slovenija that he would seek a confidence vote in his government to carry on.
“It would be irresponsible to say that we have normal conditions for work if we will fight on two fronts,” Jansa said in the interview. The country will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months on January 1.
Turk, a former senior U.N. diplomat, won 68.23% support in the November 11 run-off vote under preliminary results released by the State Election Commission. His rival, Lojze Peterle, backed by three major parties from the centre-right government coalition, received 31.77% support. Analysts, quoting public opinion polls, have said Turk’s victory shows a clear decline in voters’ support for the government.
The Slovenian government coalition comprises Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), the People's Party (SLS), the pensioners' party DeSUS and the New Slovenia (NSi) party. The government coalition has 49 seats in parliament.