Although the election date is yet to be set, Slovenian parties are busy preparing for the general election due in a few months' time with several events planned this week, the STA reports February 5, 2018.
Some new parties are yet to be formed, while the more traditional ones have been setting out their platforms, looking for ways to improve their ratings.
The coalition agreement appears to have been pushed aside as individual partners and MPs are scrambling to please their voters through solo actions, submitting motions not agreed with other parties.
Karl Erjavec of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) said that more such solo actions should be expected in the months leading up to the election.
The bills filed by DeSUS, including the one designed to establish a demographic fund, are to set the groundwork for a new ruling coalition that the party expects to be part of, Erjavec said on Friday.
The Social Democrats (SD) are critical of such conduct with their deputy faction leader Matjaž Han rebuking the fellow coalition partners for filing bills to please their voters even they know they will never be passed. "Slovenian voters are no longer that naive," SD leader Dejan Židan added.
By contrast, the SD will be trying to persuade voters by offering them a manifesto addressing social inequality and even potential candidates for ministers.
They are hosting a debate on a new social pact in Ljubljana on Monday which will see representatives of the country's biggest trade union confederation and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The debate will also see entrepreneur Dušan Olaj, unofficially the SD's candidate for economy minister.
While the party would like to keep Anja Kopač Mrak as labour minister, a former minister, Dorjan Marušič, is one plausible candidate for health minister, and international law expert Dominika Švarc is rumoured to be among the possible candidates for justice minister.
The Democrats (SDS) as the biggest opposition party also have their shadow cabinet of sorts and have been setting out their policy plans for a while now.
In December the party launched its campaign with a slogan For You, presenting changes it wants to implement field by field, currently those benefiting Slovenian farms, families and food safety.
The New Slovenia (NSi) will set out its manifesto at a conference on 17 February after Matej Tonin took over from Ljudmila Novak as party leader last week.
"We'll be touring Slovenia to meet people, civil society organisations and companies to present our vision of development one-on-one and listen to people," Tonin told the portal Domovina on Saturday.
Public opinion polls suggest that Kamnik Mayor Marjan Šarec will make a strong mark in the election after emerging as runner-up in last year's presidential poll.
"Marjan Šarec appears to be winning in rural areas, taking half of support from the SDS whilst preventing us from gaining ground. That is a fact we'll have to deal with through a staffing and programme overhaul," Tonin said.
Meanwhile, a new party is to be set up on Tuesday by Bojan Požar, a journalist who owns the news portal www.pozareport.si., after he founded a movement called A Second Chance, Your Future, in July last year.
