Exit polls: The winner of parliamentary election is Miro Cerar

1,714,476 eligible voters were choosing between 1,134 candidates,

13. julij 2014 ob 19.04 • Zadnji poseg: 13. julij 2014 ob 19.38 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO, Reuters

The party of Miro Cerar won the elections, show exit polls. Foto: BoBo

Exit polls show that the party of Miro Cerar has won parliamentary election in Slovenia. His party received 36.9 percent of votes, his main rival, centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), placed second with 19.2 percent of votes.

The third place is taken by the pensioners’ party DeSUS (9,7 percent), followed by United Left (7.1 percent), the Social Democrats (SD) has received 5.8 percent, Nova Slovenija (Nsi) (5.4 percent) and Alliance of Alenka Bratušek (4.7 percent).

Miro Cerar said he would strive to meet economic goals agreed with the European Union but that the country would seek its "own ways" of getting there. "Our party will aim for Slovenia to fulfil its EU obligations but within that we will seek our own ways to reach these goals in the best way for Slovenia," Cerar told after exit polls put his party first with 36.9 percent of votes.

Cerar created his Party of Miro Cerar (SMC) barely six weeks ago and shot to the top of opinion polls among voters looking for someone new and untarnished by the corruption scandals that have dogged the mainstream parties.

He owes much of his celebrity to his Olympic gymnast father, one of the greatest sportsmen the small southeast European country of 2 million people has produced, and his late mother, a prominent state prosecutor, politician and cabinet minister.

The centre-left Cerar will form Slovenia's fourth government since the financial crisis in 2008 shredded the country's reputation as the best-performing new European Union member.

"I expect people will recognise that Slovenia needs a change and vote for our party," Cerar, 50, a former law professor and parliamentary adviser, said after voting in the capital, Ljubljana.
However, given his reluctance to sell some of Slovenia's major state assets, analysts expect a limited makeover rather than the sweeping change that many believe is needed after the country only narrowly avoided having to seek an international bailout for its banks late last year.

Investors are still nervous about what will happen to a package of measures agreed with the European Commission. Chief among those is the sale of big state enterprises that outgoing prime minister Alenka Bratušek put on hold last month until a new government is in place.

"I worked hard to put Slovenia back on track," Bratušek said as she voted in Kranj. "The winner will have a big responsibility to form a ... solid government that will continue to fight for Slovenia to remain a social state and work for economic recovery."

1,714,476 eligible voters were choosing between 1,134 candidates, who were competing for 90 seats in the parliament.

Reuters