The Electoral Commission in the Novo Mesto electoral unit has rejected the coalition's list of candidates, arguing that it did not include enough female candidates.
This brings the United Right's chances of winning enough votes to get to parliament to a minimum, as not many parties can afford losing the votes of an entire electoral unit. What is more, it means that the leader of the Voice for Children and Families, Aleš Primc, could not run for MP, because his district Trebnje is in the Novo Mesto electoral unit.
The Kangler&Primc alliance rejected the arguments of the Electoral Commission at a press conference on Sunday, noting that they had already appealed to the Supreme Court, which has two days to decide on the matter.
But according to pundits, such appeals have little chances of success.
Under the general election act, each gender must be represented with at least 35% of the candidates on each list. Since lists are filed in electoral units, this percentage must be reached in each one of them.
Each unit is divided into 11 districts and one candidate can run in one or two of them.
The United Right fielded nine candidates in the Novo Mesto unit, two of whom are women and both would run in two districts. Broken down by districts this would mean seven male and four female candidates, which the United Right believes meets the gender quota requirements.
But the National Electoral Commission unanimously decided that only the total number of women on the list counts, which means that at least four of its nine candidates in the Novo Mesto unit should be females.
Primc told the press today that the United Left had female candidates running in four out of eleven districts in the Novo Mesto unit or 36% of female candidates, which is more than the legally required 35%.
He said that the party had a similar distribution of candidates in the Kranj unit as well - seven men and two women running in two districts.
Primc said that the complication was a sign that the left bloc was afraid of the election. "Obviously they think they can't win without an intervention from the state bodies, judiciary," Primc told the press today.
Kangler said that the Novo Mesto Electoral Commission had not warned them of any irregularities or called them to make any changes on their list.
The United Right has 43.55% of female candidates in the entire country, which means that the necessary share of women has been secured, Kangler stressed.
He believes the Supreme Court should annul the Electoral Commission's decision and call on it to ask the United Left to make the necessary changes on its list.
In 2011, the Sustainable Development of Slovenia (TRS) and the Greens were eliminated from the Ljubljana Centre electoral unit over gender quota. The former had insufficient share of women and the later insufficient share of men on their lists.
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