STA, 11 July 2021 - The rejection of the new waters act is a vote of no confidence in the government by the people, who have succeeded in doing what the opposition had failed to do in parliament, according to political analyst Andraž Zorko, who sees the high turnout as an indicator of topics that may feature prominently in future elections.
Voters Strongly Reject Water Development Act in Referendum
Zorko, an analyst for the pollster Valicon and host of a political podcast, noted that over 635,000 people voted against, which is half the number of all voters who cast their votes in the 2018 general election.
"This is yet another very tangible sign what would happen today if this were an election day," he told the STA. "This means that this government de facto no longer has legitimacy".
He said another milestone judging from testimony from polling stations is turnout by youths, which indicates that politics in general, not just this government, will have to change its approach to legislation.
In general, environmental issues are what activates youths. "It is more than obvious that interest among youths is significantly higher because they realise this is about the world that they, not the current decision-makers, will live in."
Slovenians overall are very green and environmentally conscious and these issues will in future affect the activation and turnout of younger voters in particular, he said.
