Slovenia’s parliament approves right-wing Janez Jansa as prime minister

Approval of populist former leader is a shift for the EU country that was recently run by a liberal government.Slovenia’s parliament has voted to bring back right-wing politician Janez Jansa as prime minister, after his last stint in power ended in 2022.Legislators in the 90-member assembly voted 51-36 for Jansa on Friday – marking a shift for the small European Union country recently run by a liberal government.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Slovenia’s liberals and conservatives neck and neck in parliamentary votelist 2 of 3Slovenia’s governing liberals face right-wing populists in tight electionlist 3 of 3Slovenia heads to polls with diverging views on Israel in focusend of listJansa will need to return to parliament within the next 15 days for another vote to confirm his future Cabinet.His appointment concludes a post-election stalemate after the vote two months ago ended in a tie when former liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement was unable to create a parliamentary majority by only securing a thin margin.On Thursday, Jansa and his populist Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) signed a coalition agreement with several centre-right groups to form a new government, which now holds 43 seats in the assembly.It will be the fourth time 67-year-old Jansa has been in office.He was the country’s leader from 2004 to 2008, 2012 to 2013 and 2020 to 2022.In the March 22 elections, the SDS came second with 28 seats, behind Golob’s Freedom Movement, which secured 29 seats.Former Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob during the NATO summit on June 25, 2025 [Pierre Crom/Getty Images]The new coalition government is made up of the SDS, Slovenia" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="132381" data-entity-type="organization">New Slovenia, Democrats, the Slovenian People’s Party and Focus. It also secured additional backing from the right-wing Resnica party, which will not formally join the government.In a speech laying out the government’s future goals, Jansa listed the economy, the fight against corruption and red tape, and decentralisation.