LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Slovenia is set to vote into office Thursday a new, center-left government that will keep away from power anti-immigrant populists who topped June's election.
The proposed government of Prime Minister Marjan Sarec — a former comedian — comprises several moderate groups which have joined forces to sideline the right-wing winner of the June 3 parliamentary vote.
A novice in Slovenia's top politics, the 40-year-old Sarec has proposed a minority government consisting of five center-left parties. It will also get the backing of a separate left-wing group in parliament.
If confirmed, Sarec's moderate government bucks the trend in Central Europe where populists have swept to power in elections from Italy to Poland.
Slovenia was once part of the former Yugoslavia and is the native home of U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Bordering Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and a slice of the Adriatic Sea, the country joined the European Union in 2004 and has used the euro as its official currency since 2007.
Some analysts in Slovenia have predicted that Sarec's government will be unstable because it consists of several diverse groups and depends for its ability to pass legislation on the left-wing party.
Already, Slovenian businesses have expressed fear that support from The Left party, which advocated welfare state in Slovenia, will force the government to raise taxes to meet its demands.
Sarec, who gave up performing on stage to become the mayor of the central Slovenian town of Kamnik, told parliament that his government is ready to take up its responsibilities.
"It is easier to observe from the side and criticize than to do something," he said. "It is time to start working now."
Though the Slovenian Democratic Party of former prime minister, Janez Jansa, topped June's election, it failed to garner enough support to govern alone. Other parliamentary groups in the traditionally moderate Alpine nation have refused to cooperate with Jansa, who is an ally of Hungary's anti-immigrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Janez Markes, an analyst from the Delo newspaper, predicted that Jansa will provide stiff opposition to Sarec's government.
"This is the government against something ... so I suppose this government is going to be a little bit colorless," Markes said. "But this minority (government) can last, maybe for four years, who knows."
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Ali Zerdin contributed to this report.
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