August 14 (SeeNews) - The Slovenian parliament will vote on Friday on the nomination of Marjan Sarec for prime minister, the parliament's work schedule shows.
On August 8, the LMS party led by Sarec - the second-biggest force in parliament after the election - said it submitted to the assembly a list of 43 signatures of MPs supporting Sarec for the position of prime minister designate.
According to RTV Slovenia broadcaster, along with the 43 MPs from the Social Democrats (SD), the Modern Center Party (SMC) of caretaker prime minister Miro Cerar, the Alenka Bratusek Party (SAB) and the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), Sarec has received the support of the 9 MPs from the Left party who have said they will not object to the appointment of new ministers.
The Left will not hold any seats in Sarec's cabinet and will stay in opposition instead.
In order to be elected, Sarec needs the support of 46 of 90 members of Slovenia's parliament on Friday. If Sarec gets elected as prime minister, he will have 15 days to put forward a list of ministers to the National Assembly.
No politician in Slovenia's parliament held the majority support needed to be elected prime minister at the end of the 30-day period following June 3 early general election, during which only president Borut Pahor could award a mandate, the president said last month. After that, either the president or groups of MPs could nominate a candidate for prime minister.
The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by former prime minister Janez Jansa won June's election with 24.92% of the votes, giving it 25 of 90 seats in the National Assembly, the election commission said earlier.
Prior to the elections all parties but NSi and SNS said they refused to work with SDS, which has so far been the case.
Analysts have been hinting for months that the left-leaning parties in parliament could have an easier time forming a government, which they predicted could be led by Sarec.