VZCZCXRO4917
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHLJ #0707 3171459
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131459Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6250
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000707 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA ELECTS DANILO TUERK NEW PRESIDENT IN LANDSLIDE 
 
REF: Ljubljana 665, Ljubljana 662, Ljubljana 513 
 
¶1.  (U) On November 11, Slovenians voted in the second round of 
presidential elections and overwhelmingly elected center-left 
candidate Danilo Tuerk the new president of the republic for a 
five-year term.  According to unofficial preliminary results, Tuerk 
won with a strong majority of nearly 70 percent of votes.  His 
opponent Lojze Peterle, whom the coalition government had supported, 
got slightly more than 30 percent in a 57.78 percent turnout (high 
for a second round).  Although the State Electoral Commission will 
accept all 43,709 ballots coming from abroad until November 19, 
these ballots should not change the results.  Tuerk, a former 
Slovenian Ambassador to the UN and later a high-level UN official, 
will take office on December 23, 2007. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who was in China on an official 
trip on election day, commented only briefly on the outcome by 
congratulating Tuerk for victory and saying that "elections are a 
time when people say what they wish and express their free will." 
Jansa also expressed his wish for "cooperation with the new 
president in working for the welfare of Slovenia."  Comment: Jansa's 
November 13 suggestion that the government might resign as a result 
of its big loss in an election day referendum about partial 
privatization of the national insurance company might be an attempt 
at spin.  Jansa might have meant to portray the government as the 
victim in a day where voters cast their votes for president as well 
as the referendum.  End comment. 
 
¶3. (U) Borut Pahor, the head of opposition and a supporter of Tuerk, 
commented that Peterle made two crucial mistakes in these 
presidential elections.  The first was the very early announcement 
of his candidacy without consulting his colleagues from the 
coalition; the second was Peterle's strong negative campaign just 
before the second round voting.  Some representatives of the 
opposition view Tuerk's big win as a good predictor for next year's 
national elections.  Minister of Finance Bajuk, who also heads the 
coalition party NSi, and other coalition members worried that the 
results showed a "critical relation of voters towards the 
right-of-center political option." 
 
¶4. COMMENT (SBU): Peterle's tactic of pushing his coalition partners 
into a corner by announcing his candidacy without consulting them 
forced only their grudging support.  His decision before the second 
round to resort to a negative campaign and attack Tuerk caused two 
reactions.  He polarized the political field on the left and right - 
something that he had sought to avoid during the first round 
explaining that he wanted to be the president who would unify and 
not divide people.  Secondly, he made Tuerk a victim of attack and 
thus sympathetic to voters, who punished Peterle for his negative 
campaign.  Voters also likely recognized that with Danilo Tuerk 
Slovenia gets a calm, cosmopolitan president who is a strong 
supporter of the rule of law.  Tuerk's strong mandate might give him 
extra power in promoting values that he believes in.  With his great 
diplomatic experience he should play an important role in assuring a 
successful Slovene presidency of the EU in the first half of 2008. 
END COMMENT. 
 
COLEMAN