STA, 28 January 2019 - The Party of the European Left has nominated Slovenian MP Violeta Tomić of the opposition Left as one of the party's two Spitzenkandidaten for the European Parliament election in May.
What’s a Spitzenkandidaten? According to Wiktionary, “the first candidate on an electoral list, who is often the leader of the respective political party, or the person designated to lead the government in the event of the party winning the election”
In addition to Tomić, the European Left has nominated Nico Cue, the former secretary general of the Metalworkers' Union of Belgium, as the other front runner.
Tomić and Cue were announced as the top candidates on the party's list at a session of its executive committee in Brussels last weekend, the European Left said in a press release on Monday.
Only recently, Tomić was appointed rapporteur on the rights of the LGBT community by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE).
"With these two candidates, we want to make a clear offer to the people of Europe, because we are on the side of those who do not accept the growing contradiction between wealth and poverty," the European Left said in the release.
The Slovenian Left said it saw the nomination as an acknowledgement to the party's work in the European context, adding that it would promote a different Europe, which would not be undermined by neo-liberalism of the centre and populism of the right.
Tomić, who is the deputy coordinator of the Left, could not say if she would also top the Slovenian party's list for the European Parliament election.
Speaking to the press today, she said that the registering of the candidates was still under way, adding that she would make her name available.
The European Left will run in the May election with the slogan "For a progressive exit from the crisis. Vote left in the European Elections".
Elected MEPs from the member parties of the European Left sit in the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the European Parliament, which currently has 28 seats in the 751-member legislature.
