Slovenia rejects bill on inquiry commission powers in referendum
Slovenian voters narrowly rejected a government bill to expand the powers of parliamentary inquiry commissions in a Sunday referendum. The result is a setback for Prime Minister Janez Jansa's reform agenda.
Voters in Slovenia, a European Union member state, narrowly turned down a government bill on Sunday that would have widened the powers of parliamentary inquiry commissions. The binding referendum result is a blow to nationalist Prime Minister Janez Jansa's reform agenda, which the opposition has called authoritarian.
With 99 percent of ballots counted, 51 percent voted against the proposal and 49 percent in favour. Because the vote was binding, the law will not take effect.
What the bill proposed
Under the bill, people summoned to testify before a parliamentary inquiry would have been required to appear immediately. They could not have contested the summons in court until the commission finished its work. The opposition argued that witnesses might be forced to reveal sensitive information and said the government was in effect creating a "political police".
Turnout and political background
Media and analysts had expected low participation, but partial results put turnout at 53.7 percent of eligible voters, the highest ever recorded for a referendum in Slovenia.
Jansa took power after liberal former prime minister Robert Golob failed to form a government, even though his party narrowly won the parliamentary elections in March. Jansa, a veteran politician and admirer of US President Donald Trump, promised a "cheaper state but with better quality". He has proposed cutting public-sector jobs and reducing funding for rights groups, which has drawn criticism from his opponents.
Before the vote, opposition leader Golob warned that the country of two million people faced "a real test of how resilient Slovenian democracy is".
