Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Danilo Turk, a former Slovenian ambassador to the United Nations, won the second, and deciding, round of the country's presidential elections, handily beating former Prime Minister Lojze Peterle, unofficial results showed.

Turk, a 55-year-old law professor, who ran with the backing of opposition parties, got 68.3 percent of the vote, results from the election commission Web site indicated late last night after almost all votes were counted. Peterle, 59, supported by the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Janez Jansa, gained 31.7 percent support.

Turk will become the third president since Slovenia, an Alpine country of 2 million people and a member of the European Union since 2004, became an independent country in 1991. He will serve a five-year term in the largely ceremonial role and will be sworn in at the end of December, just before Slovenia takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. Turk will replace Janez Drnovsek, who didn't seek a second term.

``Turk won as voters are unhappy with the current government,'' Miran Lesjak, a political commentator for the daily newspaper Dnevnik said last night via e-mail. ``Results show Prime Minister Jansa will not get another mandate,'' in the next Parliamentary elections, Lesjak said. Those elections are a year away.

In the first round of voting, with seven candidates participating, Peterle got 28.7 percent of the votes cast, while Turk had 24.5 percent.

Peterle admitted defeat after the first exit polls soon after 7 p.m. last night, saying ``this was a vote against the government,'' according to media reports.

``The scale of Turk's victory is unusual,'' Jurij Gustincic, commentator for national broadcaster TV Slovenija said in a phone interview after the results were published. ``It's obvious people are turning against this government.''

Voter turnout was 57.5 percent, the election commission said on its Web site. Official results will be published Nov. 19.

To contact the reporter on this story: Boris Cerni in Ljubljana at bcerni@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 11, 2007 19:17 EST