IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Slovenia

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Parliamentary
2015
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2017

Slovenia
Republic of Slovenia
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Borut PAHOR
Head of Government: Prime Minister Janez JANSA
Assembly: Slovenia has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Council (Drzavni Svet) with 40 seats and the National Assembly (Drzavni Zbor) with 90 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
In the National Council (Drzavni Svet) 40 members are indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve 5-year terms*. In the National Assembly (Drzavni Zbor), 88 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 2 members are elected through a Borda Count system to serve 4-year terms.**

* This is a mainly advisory body based on corporatist principles with limited legislative powers. It may propose laws, ask to review any National Assembly decisions, and call national referenda. 4 members represent business ownership associations, 4 represent trade unions, 2 represent farmers, 1 represents crafts and trades, 1 represents "independent professions," and 6 represent "non-commercial" interests. These include 1 representative each from the following fields: university students, teaching, professional research, culture/sport, health care, and social work. Finally, electoral colleges in each of 22 local constituencies elect members representing their respective constituencies. These electoral colleges include 1 member per municipality and 1 more member per additional 5,000 residents. Choice of electoral rules is reserved to the electoral colleges.

** In the PR tier, there are 8 multi-member constituencies of 11 seats each. Voters have the option to cast preference votes. There is a nationwide threshold of 4 percent. In addition, the two constituencies in which the Borda system is used are nationwide and reserved to Hungarian and Italian minorities, respectively.