Slovenia Gets New Prime Minister in Snub to Anti-Refugee Forces
- Centrist Sarec must now assemble minority coalition cabinet
- Coalition of parties block former Premier Jansa from power
Marjan Sarec.
Photographer: Jure Makovec/AFP via Getty Images
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Slovenian lawmakers approved election runner-up Marjan Sarec as prime minister, denying power to the populist winner of a June ballot and breaking a two-month political deadlock in the euro-area country.
Sarec, a former comedian who shot to fame in an unsuccessful presidential bid last year, was backed by 55 of parliament’s 90 lawmakers in a vote on Friday, opening the way for him to form a minority government that will depend on the backing of the leftist Levica party. His confirmation prevents Janez Jansa, an ally of euroskeptic Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, from returning to power, and Sarec vowed to keep the former Yugoslav republic at the core of the European Union.