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Šarec is expected to be endorsed on Friday by the five coalition partners: the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the runner-up in the election, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), Social Democrats (SD) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB); as well as the minority government's external partner, the Left.
The letter signed by former Constitutional Court Judge Peter Jambrek, former FM Dimitrij Rupel, former MEP Romana Jordan (SDS), European law professor Matej Avbelj, and Tomaž Zalaznik, the director of publisher Nova Revija, meanwhile calls for a grand centrist coalition.
It would feature the SD, LMŠ, SMC, SAB, SDS, NSi and National Party (SNS), which would have 74 votes in the 90-member National Assembly, with 38 votes contributed by centre-left and 36 by centre-right parties.
The second proposal is a development-oriented centrist coalition featuring the LMŠ, SMC, SAB, SDS and NSi, which would have 60 votes in parliament, or a two-thirds majority, of which 32 votes would be provided by centre-left and 36 by centre-right parties.
Both governments could be "coordinated by a politically neutral person as an intermediate, negotiator and facilitator", while the main mechanism for the state governance would be a "college of the prime minister".
In addition to the prime minister, it would feature a deputy prime minister for the economy, a deputy prime minister for defence, internal and foreign affairs, a deputy prime minister for public services, the minister of finance and the government secretary general.
The five believe that such a government would be balanced, stable and operational, which cannot be said for the emerging coalition led by Šarec and externally supported by the Left.
According to the letter, Šarec's government would not be development- and reform-oriented, as it would be "politically biased, retrograde and ineffective reform-, development- and project-wise" and "in the opinion of many political pundits, short-lived".