Slovenia: According to polls, Türk likely future president

Polls published on Saturday by all leading Slovenian dailies show that in the second round of the presidential elections, which will be held on Sunday, November 11, a victory for Danilo Türk over Alojz Peterle is very likely.

According to a poll by Ljubljana’s Delo, 61 percent of voters are ready to vote for Türka, while 25 percent support Paterlea. The same result was shown by a poll from the Ljubljana newspaper "Dnevnik", while a survey by the Maribor newspaper "Večer" indicates that 54 percent would vote for Türka and 26 percent for Peterlea.

Peterle received 4 percent more votes than Türka in the first round, but Türk has since gained the votes of voters who supported one of the five candidates who dropped out in the first round, making it very difficult for Peterle to make up the current deficit in the last week of the campaign, Slovenian media assess.

Thus, Delo emphasizes in a large headline, "According to election forecasts, the new president will be Türk", Večer also highlights in its headline, "Türk in the role of favorite", while Dnevnik states on its front page, "Türku is opening the doors to the presidential palace".

Slovenian media remind that candidates for the highest position in the country are entering the last and decisive week of the campaign and that the final difference in the elections may not be as shown by the polls conducted in the middle of this week, but they agree that Peterle can only reduce the difference with a much more aggressive campaign.

In an interview for Saturday’s edition of Ljubljana’s Delo, both Peterle and Türk presented themselves as politicians who do not wish to create ideological divisions, and highlighted their positions during the creation of independent Slovenia, which according to some announcements could come to the forefront of the campaign in the final days before the elections.

Peterle stated that throughout his long career he has been accompanied by a reputation as an "honest politician". He also emphasized his experience in politics, his knowledge of structures in the European Union, and especially his merits during the country’s independence when he was Prime Minister.

Türk stated that during the time of Slovenia’s independence he was engaged as a professor of international law, later as a diplomat, and that he dealt with human rights issues, and participated in preparing Slovenia’s responses to questions raised by the Badinter Commission regarding the breakup of former Yugoslavia, i.e., arbitration.

Türk rejected Peterle’s opinion that his contribution to Slovenia’s independence was "mostly theoretical". "The answer to the question of whether Yugoslavia disintegrated (or Slovenia separated) depended on the Badinter Arbitration Commission and the whole range of consequences that this answer brought. It was a very practical, not a theoretical matter," Türk said in response to Peterle. (Hina)