March 29, 2019

A man and woman were found dead in an apartment in Radovljica Monday night, with bleeding due to knife wounds being the cause of death.

The results of an autopsy indicate that the woman, city councillor Nevenka Osterc, must have died over the weekend and that she was murdered by her visiting partner, who after killing her took his own life.

STA, 3 December 2018 - Local elections 2018 were bound to produce some surprises, and the voters delivered, kicking out many mayors that had been seen as shoo-ins given the incumbency advantage that has become entrenched in the last decade and a half. For the parties at the national level, the picture is mixed, though most find something to cheer.

Independents - both truly and notionally independent parties and lists - remain the strongest force in local politics measured by the number of mayors and the council vote, an indication according to analysts of people's deep distrust of the political establishment.

In 212 municipalities, they accounted for over 31% of the cumulative council vote, with small, local parties adding another 10%. Both figures are slightly up from four years ago. They also account for 123 mayors, up from 115 in 2014, and another eight mayors were backed by coalitions of parties, the same number as four years ago.

Long the biggest party on the national scene, the Democrats (SDS) remain the strongest force among the established parties at the local level. They have managed to increase their share of the council vote from 14.3% to 16.7%, though they have fewer mayors, 17 compared to 19 four years ago.

However, by the party's own reckoning they have 54 mayors that they either fielded directly or endorsed.

SDS does well in rural areas, less so in cities and towns

"We're particularly glad that people have recognised that the SDS is a party with roots and has hence strengthened its position in urban and other municipalities," the party said after the run-off on Sunday.

The SDS has a strong presence in small rural municipalities, but they have not directly won a single urban municipality, even as their candidates made a strong showing, in particular in the capital Ljubljana, and the candidate they endorsed won in Novo Mesto.

The situation is reverse with the Social Democrats (SD), who appear to have regained their standing in cities.

SD mayors will lead four of the eleven urban municipalities - Kranj, Velenje, Ptuj and Murska Sobota - and had endorsed the winner in Slovenj Gradec.

But overall, they have 16 mayors that officially ran on SD tickets, down from 20 four years ago. Their share of the council vote increased marginally to just over 10%.

SD leader Dejan Židan said yesterday that the party was "returning to the cities," and doing this by insisting that its candidates be respectful in political dialogue. "Unfortunately, that cannot necessarily be said of other candidates."

Somewhat surprisingly, the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) remains a force to be reckoned with in local politics. Despite not having been in parliament since 2014, its robust local network has helped it secure 26 of the 212 mayoral offices with just 51 candidates for mayor.

In local councils, too it remains strong, though with just 6.2% of the overall council vote. The figure points to a problem that has almost always plagued the SLS: it is strong in small, rural municipalities but has virtually no presence in large towns and cities.

The only urban municipalities where it has secured council seats is in Celje, where its former president Bojan Šrot has been mayor for two decades, and Novo Mesto and Velenje, where it has one councillor each.

Marjan Podobnik, who recently returned to the helm of the SLS to turn the party's fortunes around, said the result was "incredibly encouraging considering the path that we have walked in recent years", confident that it will be similarly successful in the EU elections in spring.

Related: Our guides to many of Slovenia’s political parties can be found here

Good and bad news for the parties in government

For the coalition parties, the election was a mixed bag at best.

The list of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec was never expected to perform well, having fielded mayoral candidates in only nine municipalities and council candidates in just a few dozen. At the end of the day, its share of the council vote was 2.5%.

But in Šarec's home town of Kamnik, where the prime minister served almost two full terms as mayor, his hand-picked successor, deputy mayor Igor Žavbi, surprisingly lost to New Slovenia (NSi) deputy mayor Matej Slapar by more than 20 percentage points.

Šarec did not dwell on the outcome beyond saying that this marked the end of his eight-year reign in Kamnik and that Slapar was a good candidate who would do the job well.

The fellow coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) suffered a blow, having four years ago failed to get a single mayor elected but grabbing 11% of the council vote on the back of its win in the general election.

Its share of the council vote plunged to 4% this year but it has two mayors, Saša Arsenovič in Maribor, who wanted to run as an independent but opted for the SMC because he did not have the time to collect the voter signatures, and Alenka Kovač in the tiny southern municipality of Osilnica.

It is notable, however, that even though the SMC is one of many of parties in recent years formed just before the general election it is the only one not to have been completely burned in subsequent local elections, a fate that for example befell the Ljubljana mayor's party Positive Slovenia.

The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) never excelled in local elections, but its result is even worse than four years ago. It has one mayor, just like before, but its share of the council vote dropped from 7.5% to under 5%.

The Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), known as the Alenka Bratušek Alliance (ZAB) four years ago, performed better, raising its share of the council vote from 0.2% to 0.8%, but it does not have a single mayor and remains a marginal force at the local level.

In the ranks of the opposition, the Christian democratic New Slovenia (NSi) made significant progress. It has ten mayors, up from seven in 2014, and its share of the council vote remained almost level, rising by 0.3 points to 6.4%.

Much like the SLS, the NSi remains largely confined to smaller communities, but analysts have pointed out it is gaining traction in more urban environments as well, Kamnik being a case in point.

Like the SAB, the Left remains more or less on the margins in local politics, having just 3% of the council vote compared to roughly 2% that its three predecessors won four years ago. It does not have a single mayor either.

The results of the general election show that it has a strong base in the capital Ljubljana, where it got 8.5% of the council vote, but it is struggling to expand beyond its urban base, having a progressive platform that is finding better reception among young urban voters.

The far-right National Party (SNS) remains on the margins as well, with just 1.1% of the council vote and not a single mayor.

STA, 3 December 2018 - The mayoral race in Koper was too close to call until all mail-in ballots were counted on Monday. The count confirmed Aleš Bržan, a radio host, managed to dethrone long-serving Mayor Boris Popovič, but by a mere seven votes.

Of the 46 mail-in votes, 45 were valid, commission chair Miloš Senčur told the press.

Twenty-five votes were for Popovič and 20 for Bržan, which means that according to unofficial results, Bržan received 13,921 votes and Popovič 13,914.

In his first statement after the mail-in votes were added to the tally, Bržan said "people have decided on change and the change is here, so all I can say is thanks to all those who have made an effort and to all who turned out to vote".

He did expect a narrow result, yet not that narrow. "Nobody expected such a narrow outcome. We expected a margin of several hundred votes."

Earlier in the day, Bržan said he would demand recount since last evening's count of the votes from early voting revealed some irregularities.

It was reported that there were 2,715 ballots from the early vote, but the number of ballots exceeded by six the number of people who were registered as having voted.

But this is according to Bržan not an option now. "For us, this story is over."

In a comment to a fierce race, Bržan said "both candidates should first calm down people and passions so that we can start living normally again".

Meanwhile, Senčur explained that the number of ballots and the number of people having voted in advance in fact matched. Of the 2,715 ballots, nine were invalid.

He explained, however, that complaints about the performance of the local electoral commission could be filed until midnight.

Asked whether it was still possible for the Koper vote to be annulled, he said: "Anything is possible if the complaint is justified."

The mayoral race in Koper provided one of the biggest surprises in this year's local elections.

Not only did Popovič lose after 16 years in office while he was set to win his fifth term in a landslide even two weeks ago, but also for Bržan, who, except on the coast, was until recently relatively unknown.

Securing 30.4% of the vote in the first round, Bržan trailed Popovič by 14 points, but was then endorsed by almost all the other mayoral candidates in Slovenia's fourth largest municipality.

Popovič, who conceded defeat already last evening, has run Koper in a rather authoritarian manner, which many locals got fed up with, apparently also Bržan, who announced to bring change to the style of leadership.

Bržan, born in Koper in 1976, is a logistics engineer, but he is best known as a host on a popular local commercial radio station.

The website of his Aleš Bržan List (LAB) party says that over the past decade, he has managed a small company.

While still a student, he overhauled the Koper students' club and revived the streets of Koper with a special project.

Not entirely a political novice, Bržan challenged Popovič before, in 2014, when he, with the support of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), emerged as the runner-up.

He later distanced himself from the SMC, the party of the former prime minister, Miro Cerar, and has spent most of the past four years as independent city councillor.

He founded his LAB party just before this year's local elections, but was not among the fiercest critics of Popovič. On the contrary, he credited his predecessor with a number of achievements.

Given that his party has won nine seats on the city council to emerge as the second strongest, it seems that such restrained rhetoric worked for both the party and him.

All our stories related to Koper can be found here

STA, 2 December 2018 - Slovenian voters appear to have opted for change in the mayoral run-off on Sunday as they showed many incumbents the door to usher in newcomers that promised a sea-change in the way their communities are managed.

With elections held in 56 municipalities, perhaps the biggest surprise came in Koper, where radio host Aleš Bržan appeared to have defeated incumbent Boris Popovič.

But after Popovič already conceded, the local electoral commission revealed the gap was only twelve votes - more than 25,000 ballots were cast, so there is still a chance postal ballots, which will be counted tomorrow, may change the result.

In Maribor, businessman Saša Arsenovič convincingly defeated former mayor Franc Kangler after the incumbent, Andrej Fištravec, was drubbed in the first round.

When the final tally was made, Arsenovič carried the vote with 58%, having campaigned on his record as successful businessman and promising to turn the city's economic fortunes around.

The vote pitted the more urbane Arsenovič against the more rural Kangler, who had been ejected from office in 2012 under a cloud of corruption allegations that he has mostly deflected in court since then.

Changes in all other run-off races

All other municipalities classified as urban holding run-offs also got new mayors tonight.

In Kranj, Matjaž Rakovec, the former chief executive of insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav, will fill the mayoral seat vacated by Boštjan Trilar. He won 68% of the vote against the independent Zoran Stevanović.

In Nova Gorica in the west, the 43-year-old Klemen Miklavčič defeated two-term Mayor Matej Arčon with 51.6% of the vote, despite Arčon having a 12-point lead in the first round.

Tilen Klugler, an independent endorsed by centre-left parties, emerged victorious in Slovenj Gradec in the north-east, edging the incumbent Andrej Čas with 52% to 48%.

And in eastern municipality of Ptuj, Social Democrat (SD) Nuška Gajšek has become the sole woman mayor in one of Slovenia's 11 urban municipalities as she surprisingly defeated the former mayor Štefan Čelan with nearly 67% of the vote.

Several larger cities that are not classified as urban municipalities got new mayors as well.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec's party lost primacy in its home base in Kamnik as his chosen successor at the mayoral office, Igor Žavbi, was defeated by the candidate of the conservative New Slovenia (NSi) Matej Slapar.

In Jesenice in the northwest, Blaž Račič, 44, a correspondent for the daily Delo, ended the 12-year reign of Tomaž Tom Mencinger with a convincing 64.6% of the vote, having already narrowly won the first round.

And in Črnomelj in south Slovenia, a staunch anti-immigrant platform did not help Democrat (SDS) candidate Maja Kocjan, who was defeated by businessman Andrej Kavšek with a clear 72.9% of the vote, having already convincingly carried the first round.

All in all, only 11 incumbents who entered the run-offs secured re-election, a stark contrast to the first round, when incumbents posted serial wins.

But it was not all upsets, as Tržič, where the campaign was bitterly fought, delivered a resounding win for the incumbent Boštjan Sajovic against former mayor Pavle Rupar.

In Brežice, long-serving mayor Ivan Molan stood his ground, as did Toni Dragar in Domžale.

At the cumulative national level the trend has changed little, albeit keeping with a long trend.

The People's Party (SLS) remains the strongest force with 26 mayors in 2012 municipalities, largely thanks to a strong base in small, rural communities. The Democrats (SDS) have 17 and the Social Democrats (SD) 16.

The three dominant political forces on the local level have long been losing ground to mayors who are running as independents (although some have very clear political pedigrees).

There are now 123 mayors classified as independents, up from 115 four years ago, with another eight fielded by multiple parties, the same as in 2014.

However, there has been a reversal of the trend of declining voter engagement, as turnout stood at 48.4%, almost two points below that of the first round but five points higher than in the run-off in 2014.

STA, 29 November 2018 - Slovenia has been fixated on Maribor and Koper as local elections enter the run-off on Sunday. Maribor will get a new mayor in any case and in Koper the incumbent faces the biggest challenge of his career. But there are plenty of other races that could produce surprises as well.

In Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city, former mayor Franc Kangler, the candidate of the right, and businessman Saša Arsenovič, an independent running on the Modern Centre Party (SMC) ticket, are neck-and-neck with just days to go until the polls open.

The latest poll by Večer, the Maribor-based daily, puts Arsenović less than two points ahead of Kangler, but the race is too close to call. In the first round, Arsenovič was well ahead, with 38.2% to Kangler's 31.4%.

While the campaign ahead of the second round shifted a gear lower from the tense and at times aggressive campaigning for the second round, the race is lively given that the candidates represent two very distinct visions of Maribor.

The more urban Arsenovič, a businessman credited with helping to revive the struggling centre of the city, looks up to the long-term mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, as he tries to infuse town hall with a bit of business acumen.

Kangler, a former police officer and MP who was ousted as mayor in 2012 in mass protests sparked by allegations of corruption, has a can-do attitude but connects better to Maribor's suburban and rural population with his populist, salt-of-the-earth rhetoric about returning the city to its industrial glory.

The race in Koper, the biggest city on the coast and home to Slovenia's sole seaport, pits incumbent Mayor Boris Popovič, who has run the city with a penchant for strong-arming for 16 years, against radio host Aleš Bržan.

It had been widely expected that Popovič would be a shoo-in for his fifth term, but he has spent years fending off corruption allegations, and spent months in courtrooms, sometimes for cases that became statute-barred in odd circumstances.

Local political pundits say the people appear to have become fed up with his authoritarian style, hence the shift to the mild-mannered Bržan, who has led a low-key campaign while letting Popovič defend his record in office.

Popovič edged Bržan by almost 14 points in the first round, but since then nine unsuccessful candidates, who together accounted for nearly a fifth of the first-round vote, jointly backed Bržan. There have been no polls for Koper ahead of the run-off so far.

Another major race is in Kranj, the centre of the wealthy Gorenjska region, but polls suggest the result will be more clear-cut.

Matjaž Rakovec, the former boss of insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav who is running with the support of the Social Democrats (SD), is expected to carry the mayorship easily against independent Zoran Stevanović, a prominent councillor.

Both focused their campaigns on buttressing the city's economy, with Rakovec pledging to bring over a thousand jobs to the city under his watch. Rakovec is projected to win about 70% of the vote, according to a poll carried by Dnevnik.

In the absence of local polling it is difficult to gauge many other races under way in the 56 municipalities that are holding run-offs, but many are interesting merely by virtue of the illustrious and industrious candidates on the ticket.

In Jesenice, which vies with Kranj as the economic centre of Gorenjska, incumbent Tomaž Mencinger has had to surprisingly enter a run-off against Delo journalist Blaž Račić. In the first round, they were neck-and-neck at just over 23%.

In the nearby Tržič, the incumbent Borut Sajovic faces former mayor Pavel Rupar, who is attempting his second return to politics after spending time in prison for defrauding the municipality and who became a tabloid sensation after phone conversations with a mistress were published in 2006.

In southern Slovenia, all eyes are on Črnomelj, where a local member of the opposition Democrats (SDS) managed to enter the run-off with a staunchly anti-immigrant agenda, ousting the incumbent Mojca Čemas Stjepanovič in the process.

But the real surprise there was Andrej Kavšek, a local businessman who carried 45% of the vote with a distinctly pro-business platform emphasising the need to revive the economic fortunes of the community.

In Kamnik, the party of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, who served two terms as mayor there, faces a major test. Its candidate, deputy mayor Igor Žavbi, finished neck-and-neck with New Slovenia (NSi) candidate Matej Slapar, another deputy mayor.

Smaller communities scattered around the country could deliver surprises as well, as many famous and infamous candidates are on the ticket.

Journalists Bojan Traven in Bohinj and Dejan Karba in Ljutomer are in the run-off. Disgraced former ambassador Milan Balažic will try his luck in Moravče east of Ljubljana, and Roman Leljak, a former convict and amateur historian well liked in conservative circles, is in the run-off in Radenci in the east.

Overall, the second round is much more local since only mayoral run-offs are held and parties at the national level have mostly stayed out of campaigning, which dovetails with the increasingly pronounced trend of established parties giving way to independent and semi-independent local lists in local elections.

In the first round, independents carried well over half of all mayor offices and as a bloc they are the strongest contingent in municipal councils.

All of our local elections coverage can be found here

Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children, and each week we’ll take an article and post it here as an English-Slovene dual text. 

Kdo je prepričal volivce na lokalnih volitvah?

Who convinced voters in local elections?

Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner

Ljubljančani so izvolili sedanjega župana Zorana Jankovića.

The people of Ljubljana elected Zoran Janković, the current mayor.

V Mariboru se bosta v drugem krogu pomerila podjetnik Aleksander Saša Arsenovič in Franc Kangler, ki je že županoval v tem mestu.

In Maribor, entrepreneurs Aleksander Saša Arsenovič and Franc Kangler, who has already been mayor of this city, will move to the second round.

V Kopru je največ glasov dobil sedanji župan Boris Popovič, v Celju prav tako sedanji župan Bojan Šrot, toda v Kopru bo odločilen drugi krog, v katerem bo poleg Popoviča še Aleš Bržan.

In Koper, the majority of votes were won by the current mayor Boris Popovič, while in Celje the current mayor Bojan Šrot also stays sin charge, although in Koper there will also a second round, with Popovič facing Aleš Bržan.

V Murski Soboti, Novem mestu in Velenju so nove stare župane dobili že kmalu po zaprtju volišč: to so dr. Aleksander Jevšek, Gregor Macedoni in Bojan Kontič.

In Murska Sobota, Novo mesto and Velenje, returning mayors were announced shortly after the closure of the polling stations: these are Dr. Aleksander Jevšek, Gregor Macedoni and Bojan Kontič.

Na Ptuju pa se bosta v drugem krogu pomerila Nuška Gajšek in dr. Štefan Čelan, v Novi Gorici Matej Arčon in dr. Klemen Miklavič in V Slovenj Gradcu Tilen Klugler in Andrej Čas.

In Ptuj, Nuška Gajšek and dr. Štefan Čelan, Nova Gorica Matej Arčon and dr. Klemen Miklavič and V Slovenj Gradec Tilen Klugler and Andrej Čas.

V mnogih krajih so volivci na lističih lahko obkrožili le eno številko pred imenom kandidata in tam izbira ni bila težka.

In many places, voters could circle only one number in front of the candidate's name on the ballot and there were no difficult choices.

Drugje je bilo bolj napeto, saj krajani do poznih večernih ur niso vedeli, kdo bo odločal o prihodnosti kraja.

It was somewhat more tense elsewhere, since people did not know until late into the evening what would decide the future of the place.

Letošnje lokalne volitve so pustile pečat. Na volišča se je namreč odpravilo več ljudi kot pred štirimi leti in več kot na državnozborskih volitvah.

This year's local elections made an impressions, with more voters than four years ago, and more than in the National Assembly elections [earlier this year].

To je spodbudna novica, saj o prihodnosti odločajo tisti, ki gredo voliti, in ne tisti, ki ostanejo doma.

This is encouraging news, because the future is decided by those who go to vote, and not those who stay at home.

Volivna udeležba po Sloveniji je bila do zaključka redakcije 46,92 odstotka, v ponedeljek pa so podatki kazali, da je glasovalo 50,61 ljudi. Najvišja udeležba je bila v Solčavi, kjer je glas oddalo 84,23 odstotka volivnih upravičencev. Po ponedeljkovih podatkih je bila najnižja v Vojniku (35,47).

Voter participation throughout Slovenia was said to be 46.92 percent by the end of voting, and on Monday data showed that 50.61 people voted. The highest participation was in Solčava, where 84.23% of voters turned up. According to Monday's data, the lowest was in Vojnik (35.47).

Drugi krog volitev bo 2. decembra.

The second round of elections will take place on December 2nd.

Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, and find all our dual texts here.

STA, 19 November - Slovenia's local elections delivered few surprises. Incumbents ruled supreme carrying the biggest cities except for Koper, conservative parties did even better than last time around, centrist parties continued to lose ground, and independents became an even more formidable force, in a continuation of a long trend.

In the most closely watched race in Ljubljana, Mayor Zoran Jankovič predictably won re-election against centre-right candidate Anže Logar of the Democrats (SDS).

Janković even increased his share of the vote slightly from four years ago, to 61%, and his list regained outright majority in city council, but Logar also exceeded expectations with 29% of the vote, the best a Janković opponent has ever mustered.

In Maribor, the unpopular incumbent Andrej Fištravec was predictably swept out of office. In the second round, voters will pick between entrepreneur Saša Arsenovič and former mayor Franc Kangler. After almost all of the votes counted, they won 38.2% and 31.4% respectively.

The outcome makes Maribor one of the more interesting races to watch in the run-off on 2 December, as Kangler attempts his second comeback after being swept out of office by a popular uprising in 2012 and Arsenović tries to emulate his role model Janković with a business-like approach to running the city.

Another interesting race to watch will be Koper, where incumbent Boris Popovič will have to enter a run-off for the first time since 2002 facing Aleš Brežan, an independent with a growing following in the coastal city.

Some of the other long-lasting incumbents in big cities easily won re-election, including Bojan Šrot in Celje, Aleksander Jevšek in Murska Sobota, Gregor Macedoni in Novo Mesto and Bojan Kontič in Velenje.

All in all, 157 of the 212 municipalities got mayors in the first round, one more than four years ago.

Independents, SDS and SD do well at the party level

Independent and semi-independent parties and local lists further expanded their reach to reinforce the trend seen over the past decade. Independents aside, the biggest winners of this election are the SDS and the Social Democrats (SD).

According to nearly complete results, independents as the biggest single group won mayoral offices in 87 of the 212 municipalities in the first round and 944 of the 3,400 seats available on the local councils or 32.4% of the national vote.

While the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) remains the party with the largest number of mayors, its tally of mayoral offices won in the first round fell by two to 23 compared to the previous elections.

The SDS, the party that won the general election earlier this year, made the biggest gain nation-wide by securing 17% of the vote for local councils, up three percentage points from 2014. It also won 12 mayoral offices, which is as many as in the first round in 2014.

"The results show that in this election nation-wide more people have voted for the SDS alone than for the entire ruling coalition combined," Janša said.

Indeed, the only of the five ruling coalition parties that did well and even better than in the previous local election was the Social Democrats (SD), who like the SDS have a well-established local network.

The SD came as the second-strongest national party by winning 14 mayoral offices and 10.1% of the vote to local councils, which compares to 12 mayoral seats and 9.95% in the first round of the previous election.

SD leader Dejan Židan said that while there is an increasing number of independents and ever fewer parties field their own candidates, "we are the party that fights on, being aware that a party cannot be cut off from the local environment".

While being first in terms of mayoral offices, the SLS ranks fourth in elections to local councils with 6.5% of the vote, down just over one percentage point.

"After a difficult period behind us, we consider it a major victory and a better showing than the most upbeat expectations," Marjan Podobnik, the new-old SLS leader, commented.

The conservative New Slovenia (NSi) also did well. It won eight mayoral offices and 6.5% of the vote to local councils, compared to seven mayors and 6.61% of the national share of the vote to local councils four years ago.

"The NSi appears to be on the right track and our work pays in the long run," NSi leader Matej Tonin said, hailing joint support that the right-wing bloc threw behind mayoral contenders in several of the municipalities.

The Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the party of the prime minister which made its first appearance at the national level in the general election in June, did not win a single mayoral seat in the first round, although its candidate is in the lead in Kamnik, where Šarec first served as mayor.

As a newcomer that is yet establishing its local network, the party won 2.4% of the vote to local councils, which is a much poorer result that the SMC posted in 2014 after winning the general election as a newcomer.

Although not winning a single mayor back then, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) won one this time around, while its vote to local councils collapsed from 11.11% to 4.2% of the vote.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec downplayed the result by saying that "we'll be happy of any result we achieve". He also pledged to work with mayors saying that "previous governments did not understand the work of municipalities".

The Left did not make much of a mark at the national level either, securing no mayor and winning only 2.8% of the vote.

Nevertheless, the party's deputy leader Violeta Tomić said the Left was happy with the result, in particular in Ljubljana where it emerged as the third strongest faction and its candidate for mayor came third.

The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) fared better in terms of the national share of the vote, securing 4.9%, which is down from 7.45% four years ago. The party won no mayoral office.

Learn more about Slovenia’s many political parties here

STA, 19 November 2018 - Boris Popovič, who has had a comfortable tenure in the Koper mayoral office since 2002, will have to put in additional effort to convince the residents of the largest coastal municipality. In a tight race, his main challenger Aleš Bržan, an independent, managed to force a run-off.

After nearly all the votes were counted, Popovič's support stood at 44.5%, whereas Bržan was backed by 30.5% of those who turned out.

After the polls closed, Popovič said he hoped to be elected in the first round. "I believe we did a whole lot. We couldn't have done more. We worked day and night for four years on 12 years of foundation. I believe we deserve to get another four years."

Nevertheless, the mayor was not overly disappointed, because "it was virtually impossible to win in the first round with 13 candidates" running for the office.

Looking ahead, he said that the campaign for the run-off would finally provide the two candidates with the chance to compare their platforms.

"We will do our job ... until the end and let the people decide as they want," he said and added that "even if people are annoyed and think that another candidate can give them more, stimulate better development, why not".

Popovič's popularity appears to be waning, with Bržan gradually eating away at his voter base. In 2014, Popovič cruised to victory in the first round with almost 53% of the vote and Bržan, then backed by the Modern Centre Party (SMC) got 25%.

Bržan told the public broadcaster TV Slovenija that his team had been working hard for this and that they would continue to give it everything so that things would change in Koper.

"It is obvious that something has happened in Koper, and we hope that this will be a turnaround in the way the municipality is run," he told the STA.

Popovič, known for his authoritarian style and disdain for even moderate criticism, has been losing his grip of Koper as voices have started to grow louder about the need for more democracy in running the city.

Antiša Korljan, the editor-in-chief of the Primorske Novice newspaper, says that the apparent second round is the result of votes against Popovič.

Bržan is a reserved, cultivated and deliberate candidate, but this is not necessarily a good thing, he added. "Bržan will have to become a bit more aggressive in his approach, he was lacking that in his communication," Korljan said.

Despite the challenge Koper voters have thrown at Popovič, he managed to retain his power in the city council, where he will have 13 councillors in the 30-member body, the same number as before.

Bržan will have nine councillors; in the previous election he ran with the support of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), which had won seven seats but was relegated from the council this time, winning less than 2% of the vote.

Olive, a local party, and the Left won two seats each, with four more parties and lists having one seat each, including the list of Popovič's former close ally Gašpar Gašpar Mišič, who is now one of his biggest critics.

All our stories on Koper are here

STA, 19 November 2018 - Bojan Šrot, who has been unrivalled as the mayor of Celje for 20 years, won another term on Sunday, sweeping the field in the first round with 56% after more than half of the votes counted. Turnout was 35%.

"The result is perhaps slightly more modest than we're used to, but given that the seven mayoral candidates are a record figure in the last 20 years, I'm very happy," Šrot told TV Slovenija.

The 58-year-old, who only had to do a run-off during his first run for mayor, rejected those claiming he has been in power for too long, saying that this was actually "an advantage, as experience helps a lot when being mayor".

"I still have like two terms worth of energy and plans left in me," said the mayor, who fielded his own list for the city council this time after he had previously ran as part of the People's Party (SLS), which he led between 2007 and 2009.

Meanwhile, Sandi Sendelbah, a former municipal accountant who was recently sacked by the mayor, proved Šrot's most serious challenger. He has 18% after more than half of votes have been counted

Sendelbah ran alone as his list Open Celje was rejected for administrative reasons.

A first-round win by Šrot had not been a forgone conclusion, with polls carried out among the residents suggesting that many people indeed want change.

In October, half of respondents said it was time for a change at the helm of the municipality, and only 20% said the current team should stay on.

All our Celje stories are here

STA, 19 November 2018 - The first round of the local election in Maribor has brought the expected run-off between entrepreneur Saša Arsenovič and former mayor Franc Kangler. After almost all of the votes counted, they won 38% and 31% respectively. Incumbent Andrej Fištravec is far behind in third place with 9%. Turnout in the country's second largest city reached 49.67%.

While the mayoral race still remains to be decided, the seats in the 44-member city council have been distributed. Arsenovič's list has won 12 and and Kangler's 10.

Arsenovič is a businessman

Arsenovič, a political novice who has earned respect in city with several successful restaurants and by helping renovate and revive Maribor's run-down old town, said the people of Maribor had shown they wanted change.

"The real winner today is Maribor. I thank the people for going to the polls. I feel Maribor wants real change and I promise...that this time all the projects being announced for so many years will also be executed," said the 52-year-old, who is running with the support of the Modern Centre Party (SMC).

The law graduate, who is said to have earned his start-up capital working long days abroad as a tennis coach, entered the race at the eleventh hour and has mostly had to defend himself over his companies' project-related debts.

He hopes the campaign ahead of the second round on 2 December will bring more content: "I hope we will finally start talking about Maribor's development and less about my personal affairs."

Kangler is a former Mayor of Maribor

Kangler, who ran Maribor from 2006 to late 2012 when he resigned amid violent mass protests, was also happy with the result, arguing the people had recognised "our work".

The former police officer, who is supported by several right-wing parties, said that his campaign had been positive, respectful to other candidates and that things would get interesting in the second round.

Asked if the results showed the voters had forgiven and forgotten, Kangler said there was "nothing to forgive". "All the court cases against me are closed, this was a political process against me," the 53-year-old told TV Slovenija.

Outgoing mayor also lost in the city council

Meanwhile, Fištravec, a 61-year-old sociologist who won his first term in 2013 with the support of the protest movement that swept away Kangler, commented by saying that the only thing that mattered was that Maribor was doing better now after it had been stagnating for 30 years.

While the outgoing mayor is widely perceived to have failed with efforts to boost the city's economy with the help of Chinese investments, he argued that all the indicators were positive, including those for employment and investments.

Fištravec's list also suffered the heaviest losses in the city council. While it had nine councillors in the last term, it got three this time.

Three councillors were also secured by the Democrat (SDS), which thus lost one seat, and by the SMC, which had 6 in the previous term.

Analysing the results for the STA, journalists and Maribor experts Peter Jančič and Aljoša Peršak both see the race as completely open.

"The clash will definitely be interesting and it is not possible to say that Kangler, a more familiar face in politics, has an advantage," said Jančič, who also noted that turnout had increased substantially from the 38% four years ago.

Peršak feels that Arsenovič beating Kangler in the first round was a slight surprise as polls had had the former mayor in the lead.

Peršak expects Arsenovič to cast himself as the "change" candidate ahead of the run-off, while Kangler is likely to focus on successful past projects, steering away from the "memory of 2012, which has obviously not faded".

Both analysts also highlighted the crushing defeat of Fištravec. While Peršak argued that the negative campaign had not paid off for Fištravec, Jančič said "the defeat serves him right"

"He did not pay for the election campaign four years ago, not for the councillors nor for his own. He should have not even been running the city," Jančič said.