Newspaper Says Russia and Hungary Will Win the Slovenian Election

By , 31 May 2018, 10:32 AM News
Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban in Budapest, February 2015 Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban in Budapest, February 2015 en.kremlin.ru

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STA, 31 May 2018 - Večer looks at the foreign policy dimension of the coming election in Thursday's commentary as it argues that the course will depend on whether the left or the right form the new government.

All our election coverage can be found here, while our profiles of the major parties are here.

Foreign embassies in Slovenia are analysing the campaign in great detail and the superpowers Russia and the US have very clear interests about the flavour of the future coalition and the most power to achieve their goals.

"It is clearly in Russia's interest that the current DeSUS-SD-SMC policy continues; if the Left, an advocate of exiting NATO, were to join the group, it would be too good to be true for Russia."

"The American interests reach to the centre-right of the Slovenian political arena. The NSi is by far the most pro-American party in the National Assembly, followed by the SDS - at least in words if not in actions. In addition to these two, the Americans would prefer the new coalition to include the Marjan Šarec List, which has made a rebalancing of neglected relations with the US a part of its platform."

Based on that, according to Večer, the current policy will continue if the centre-left forms a new government, while a shift to a more pro-American course will follow if Janez Janša is the new prime minister.

Alas, the situation is not that simple, the paper says, noting that Janša has not been as critical of Russia or Vladimir Putin as he used to be.

"Putin's closest ally in Europe is Viktor Orban, the most visible sponsor of Janša's renewed ascent to power. We have disclosed how Orban and Janša are cooperating, what is less known is that Orban and Janša have supported the now convicted former Macedonian leader Nikola Gruevski, a corrupt politician under clear Russian influence."

"If anyone, Moscow (via Budapest) need not worry about the outcome of the Slovenian election," Večer concludes in Pro-Russian Election.

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