By Fatos Bytyci and Daria Sito-Sucic
LJUBLJANA, March 22 (Reuters) - Slovenia’s right‑leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), led by former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, was narrowly leading in parliamentary elections on Sunday ahead of the liberal Freedom Movement (GS) of incumbent Prime Minister Robert Golob, the election commission said.
With most votes counted, neither party — even with its existing coalition partners — looked likely to secure the 46 seats needed for a majority in the 90‑seat parliament, making smaller parties that cross the 4% threshold potential kingmakers.
Based on 82.32% of ballots counted, SDS won 29 seats, trailed tightly by GS with 28 seats. Along with the parties supporting SDS, Jansa's coalition would have 44 MPs and GS' coalition 39 seats.
Exit polls earlier had shown Golob's party in the lead, prompting celebrations from supporters.
"We did a great job, great campaign, and Slovenia will go forward to the right direction," said Miha Lamut, a GS candidate for MP. "Of course, getting a new government will be a challenge but we're not afraid of it."
Jansa said that he would not accept a minority government.
DECIDING SLOVENIA'S FUTURE PATH
Both camps have said the elections would determine a future path for Slovenia. Under Golob, the country has pursued a liberal, pro-European democracy focused on social reforms, and a foreign policy aligned with European countries that supported an independent Palestinian state and imposed an arms embargo on Israel.
Jansa wants to introduce tax breaks for businesses and cut funding for NGOs, welfare and media. He is also an ally of Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and a great supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, meaning a shift in the country's international alignment.
"We can wait but the question is whether Slovenia can wait (four years more)," said Jansa, who has accused Golob's government of corruption.
As the voters went to the polls on Sunday, long queues were formed at the gas stations after Golob's government on Sunday imposed restrictions of fuel purchases at the pump caused in part by cross-border fuelling and stockpiling due to the Iran war.
The election campaign heated up this month when covert videos were published on an anonymous website purportedly exposing government corruption.
A report this week alleged that Jansa met with officials from Israeli private spy firm Black Cube, which LinkedIn alleged in 2023 was behind a hidden camera campaign that targeted activists and journalists in the lead-up to Hungary's 2022 vote.
"No politeness, some lies that came out on one side or the other, so I didn't feel they were telling us, the voters, the story that we could follow," Ifigenija Simonovic, a 73-year-old writer, said after voting in Ljubljana.
"So to decide today, it really wasn't easy."
(Reporting by Branko Filipovic, Fatos Bytyci, Gasper Lubej and Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Alexander Smith, Hugh Lawson and Diane Craft)
