CALLING ELECTIONS TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Ljubljana, 27 July 2000


MILAN KUCAN:
Good-day, ladies and gentlemen. I wish to inform you, and through you also the Slovene public, of my decision concerning calling this year's elections to the National Assembly. Thank you for responding to the invitation to the press conference. There are a number of things that I would first like to say.

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Slovenia has again shown that it is a mature democracy. I am very pleased to say this, or rather, that this can be said. By the decision of the National Assembly of 25 July of this year to amend article 80 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, and thus regulate the electoral system convincingly in a constitutional manner, Slovenia has successfully passed a new test of political maturity before the domestic and international public. It thus remained faithful to the principle and tradition to accept all its most important decisions on a constitutional basis and thus give them the highest level of legitimacy. This has been the case since preparations for the independence of the state, with amending the then Constitution, with the plebiscite and with efforts towards international recognition of the Slovene state. It was also the case at the time of signing the association agreement with the European Union.

Tuesday's decision, which was supported by 70 deputies of the National Assembly and thus given a very high level of credibility, the National Assembly completed a long debate on the electoral system, which go back to before the parliamentary elections of 1996, the referendum and the decision of the constitutional court and later debates in the National Assembly, right up to 25 July of this year, to a date which is still within the deadline in which it is possible to call this year's elections to the National Assembly.

It is hard to judge how much energy all these discussions have absorbed. It is also hard to judge whether it would have been more useful to have used them to resolve the vital problems of the state and the existential questions of citizens. It is also hard to assess the depth of the political disputes and their effects on possibilities for the future, in my view essential, cooperation among the political forces or parties in seeking answers to the challenges which the future brings. Especially in seeking responses to those challenges brought by the now almost certain and reliable membership of Slovenia in the European Union, and the search for its own space and identity within the European Union. Judgements would certainly be premature and subjective. And not even important now. It all became part of the past with the decision of the National Assembly.

We now have a constitutional solution in relation to the electoral system by the will of the National Assembly. The National Assembly, within whose competence the electoral system is regulated, judged that the solution it chose is better than other, also possible, solutions, including that imposed on the National Assembly by the Constitutional Court. It is no longer very important who advocated such a solution and why, with what arguments. Respecting the principles of constitutionality and legality as basic principles of a state governed by the rule of law and democracy demands that this decision, based on amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, be respected. This, henceforth, will be the measure of legitimacy, and thus legality, and thus also of the legitimate political activity of individuals and parties.

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As you know, the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia imposes on the President of the Republic of Slovenia the duty to call elections to the National Assembly. The Constitution specifies precisely when the four year term of office of each National Assembly shall end. Time limits within which it is possible and necessary to hold elections are derived from this constitutional provision. As you know, elections this year may be held from 1 October to 12 November and they may called from 16 July to 13 September.

In the choice of voting day, after consultations yesterday and today on the date of the elections, I was guided by the following reasons.

First, the choice of day which was closest to the expectations of the political parties; although I do not follow the desires or expectations of any political party. These, understandably, distributed their expectation between the first possible and the last possible dates for holding elections - generally depending on their position in the government coalition, or until recently government coalition, or in opposition.

Second, I made the choice of date such that the National Assembly could carry out its plan of aligning our legislation with the acquis in the time available prior to the constitution of the new National Assembly after the elections - insofar as it does not decide to end its work earlier, as is the custom in mature parliamentary democracies in the world, that parliament ceases work thirty days prior to elections. The government is also committed to this - both because of its own promises and because of the mandate it received in the National Assembly and which determined as the priority precisely work on Slovenia's accession to the European Union.
Work completed by 15 September could thus be taken into consideration in the report of the European Commission on Slovenia's progress towards accession to the European Union, which will be very important for our negotiations on full membership of the European Union. Commissioner Verheugen spoke of this date on his recent visit to Slovenia.

Third, In the choice of election day, I was also influenced by events in the government since the adoption of the amendments to Article 80 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia in the National Assembly. As you know, the Prime Minister, Dr. Bajuk, has decided to resign from the Slovene People's Party + SKD United People's Party, in which he was a vice-president and which, together with the Social Democratic Party, also proposed him as prime minister designate. He has also decided to found a new party. I wish to stress that I make no judgement on these decisions, which are a matter of party affiliation and the relation of individuals, and are a matter of party life. These decisions will certainly influence the support that the government has in the National Assembly and has to date only been assured by an insignificant majority. This is especially clear from the explicit statements of the coalition partners that the coalition is no longer in existence.

These newly created circumstances tended my judgement of the most appropriate date towards the earliest possible date. However, there is electoral business connected with calling an election, which must inevitably be done in order to guarantee the undisturbed exercise of the electoral rights of citizens as their basic political right. I have therefore chosen a date which enables all these tasks to be carried out, especially the preparation, public display and correction of electoral rolls. The date is also chosen so that it provides sufficient space and time for the preparation of the parties for elections and which also respects our Slovene customs and traditions in order to ensure the highest possible turn-out in the elections.

In view of yesterday's statement by the Prime Minister that the fast - or as he put it, lightning - procedure of amending the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia will enable the speedy calling of elections and thus curtailing the term of office of the government, I would like to stress in particular that this was never a factor in reaching my decision. I have in mind the fact that the National Assembly adopted an amendment to article 80 of the Constitution. The National Assembly thus merely determined transparently the constitutional basis for holding elections. Certainly, events after the adoption of the constitutional amendments, within the government and within the coalition, are a reason for my decision on an earlier date of the election. My view is that the government needs stable majority support in the National Assembly. Such was my standpoint in the search for a solution to the government crisis after the vote of no-confidence in Dr. Drnovsek and his government. At that time, I advocated the earliest possible elections, which would enable voters themselves directly to distribute confidence among the various parties for managing the country and, on that basis, enable the formation of a government with a stable majority in the National Assembly and thus also guarantee the necessary political stability of the country. I am sure that the date on which I have decided will allow us to get a government with such support and thus achieve political stability in the country as soon as possible. I do not by this decision wish to enter into argument with the statements made yesterday that the government is irreplaceable because of the coming elections. That is a matter for the government and the National Assembly.

Fourth, the date of calling the elections enables all professional tasks to be performed that are required for implementing the election procedures. With the day of calling the elections, which will be published tomorrow in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, the time limit for election tasks begins. From the day of calling the elections it is possible to commence the candidate procedure and submitting candidatures, polling stations will begin to be determined, electoral rolls will be put on public display and, which is very important, from that date is also defined the period of the election campaign, which, as you know, starts thirty days before the date of the election.

I would like to stress in particular that publication of calling of elections tomorrow in the Official Gazette is not also the day of calling the election, and that the day of calling the election defined in the Decree is not also the date of voting, or the election. By the Decree on calling elections to the National Assembly I have determined 16 August of this year as the date of calling regular elections and 15 October of this year as the date of voting or the election.

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I wish to stress at the end that today's decision brings to an end the uncertainty connected with this year's elections, which was introduced into the Slovene political space by the dispute about the electoral system. The elections are called. They are based on the Constitution and Law, confirmed by Tuesday's decision of 70 deputies of the National Assembly. There is a great deal less space now for political manipulation with the elections. The parties can now concentrate on competing for the maximum possible voter support and trust, and the highest possible turnout of their voters in the autumn elections. The period of an election campaign is a politically demanding and responsible period, in which the parties and their candidates campaign for the favour of the voters. They will compete not only with election programmes and promises, but also by their work and behaviour so far. I hope that the parties will not compete in mutual recrimination, that they will not compete by reviving disputes which belong to the past and history, and to vocabularies demonstrating the low level of human and political civilisation. I hope that they will compete with points of view and clear standpoints on the development questions of Slovene society and on its integration into the international communityand processes which decisively mark our future. My sense of the mood of the Slovene people tells me that this is what they expect, this interests and concerns them; how they will live, whether it is possible to reduce unemployment, or whether their children will have opportunities for education in accordance with their capacities and not primarily on the basis of the material circumstances of their parents, whether the general prosperity can be increased, whether legal and social security can be increased, security in old age, the quality of life. They are interested in whether the country will be successfully integrated into the information society, into the information era and into the new economy. They are interested in whether they and their country have a future. Efforts of parties to answer these questions will certainly pay off at the elections, conflict and dispute will not be rewarded, that is my firm conviction and I would thus like to end this introduction on that note.



MARJA NOVAK, REUTERS
Mr President, I am interested in how this government crisis, which has actually been going on since April and has recently become exacerbated, will in your opinion affect the reputation of Slovenia, and especially accession to the European Union?

MILAN KUCAN
It would have affected Slovenia's reputation had there not been solutions, constitutional procedures and institutions which successfully resolved this crisis. I think that we successfully resolved it the first time, also in accordance with European parliamentary tradition, and that even the circumstances which were created have been resolved in compliance with our own constitutional documents and in accordance with European democratic parliamentary tradition. Government crises are something built into parliamentary life, and so effective mechanisms are, of course, needed to resolve these crises. Slovenia has used them and I am sure will use them in the future. That is why I started my introduction with the fact that Slovenia is a mature democracy.

As regards Slovenia's accession the European Union - all procedures are under way, agreement has been reached in the National Assembly, as you know, except for the Slovene National Party. European affairs have priority. Insofar as the government will also itself give priority to these matters and will send them for procedure in the National Assembly, it is of course possible to adopt all these matters until the decision of the National Assembly to cease work because of the election. So far, the National Assembly has dealt with matters which had already been prepared by the previous government.

MARJANA KRISTAN, Slovene Press Agency
Mr President, what is your comment on Ebner's letter and his explanation of this letter yesterday?

MILAN KUCAN
I know Mr. Ebner, he has cooperated with Slovenia for a long time and also helped forge a path over the reefs which are set on Slovenia's path to full membership, or in which it is concerned. So his explanation yesterday seemed much more in line with his attitude than the letter itself, which was rather surprising from that point of view. He himself has explained what it was about.

JURE TRAMPUZ, MLADINA
I am interested in your comment on yesterday's meeting with Mr. Bajuk?

MILAN KUCAN
I met with him, as with the president of the National Assembly and the presidents of parties, in order to get his opinion on when is the most suitable date for the election in view of the government's programme. He, understandably, put forward the view that the government needs as much space as possible in order to perform the tasks connected with their programme of preparing laws which are need for harmonisation of the legal order of Slovenia with the acquis communautaire.

We also, of course, discussed circumstances which have been created by his statements at his press conference, which were of course new facts for me and in themselves raise the question of whose government this now is and on what support in parliament it can count. I had also received his letter before this, in answer to my letter, in which he assures me that the government will respect the decision adopted in the National Assembly. Which is of course in itself understandable and almost unnecessary, except that it concerns a constitutional amendment.

What was not, however, understandable to me is that the government is sticking to its decision to ask the Venice Commission for an opinion on this. We spoke of this, and the prime minister said that the government was holding to this decision.