Political turmoil returned to Slovenia on Saturday after Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek lost the party leadership following 13 months in office that saw bailout fears ease in the small eurozone member.
Bratusek, 44, was defeated in a vote in the early hours of Saturday at a congress of the ruling Positive Slovenia (PS) party by its founder and Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic by 338 votes to 422.
Slovenia's first ever female premier had warned ahead of the vote that she would resign if this happened, saying: "Without the support of my own party, I can no longer be the head of government".
It was unclear on Saturday however what her next step would be, with party officials saying she was taking time to reflect and would make an announcement on Monday or Tuesday.
The office of President Borut Pahor tweeted that he would receive Bratusek on Tuesday.
Her three coalition partners all said on Saturday that the present government could not continue and that snap elections should be held without delay -- a call echoed by the opposition.
"This coalition has stopped existing," the leader of one of the coalition parties, Igor Luksic of the Social Democrats, told reporters.
"The election of Zoran Jankovic is ending the term of this government," Karl Erjavec, head of the Pensioners' Party, another coalition partner, told the state news agency STA.
"Snap elections are the only way to resolve this political crisis," he said.
Under Jankovic, the PS came first in snap elections in December 2011, but he failed to form a coalition and the centre-right Janez Jansa became prime minister instead.
Corruption allegations against both men led to the collapse of Jansa's government and to Jankovic resigning as PS head in favour of Bratusek, who formed a new centre-left administration.
On Saturday, Jankovic, who has criticised the direction the party has taken in government, said that he would like Bratusek to stay on as prime minister.
"I would like us to leave this room more united than we came," he said, calling the weekend "a chance for reflection" and urging Bratusek "not to take any decisions".
"As long as we stay united, we can be a force of hope for Slovenia," he said.
Once a model newcomer to the European Union and the eurozone, the former Yugoslav republic of two million people, and in particular its banks, was hit hard by the global financial disaster of 2008-09 and the subsequent eurozone debt crisis.
But in her time in office, Bratusek has managed to satisfy Brussels that Slovenia does not need a bailout by pumping more capital into the banks and with a programme of privatisations and reforms.
Jankovic, a charismatic supermarket millionnaire, said the government was doing too little to restart the economy, but Bratusek said she had to compromise with her coalition partners.
"Politics is about nurturing fragile relations in order to build trust with partners that results in progress," she said.
Political turmoil returned to Slovenia on Saturday after Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek lost the party leadership following 13 months in office that saw bailout fears ease in the small eurozone member.
Bratusek, 44, was defeated in a vote in the early hours of Saturday at a congress of the ruling Positive Slovenia (PS) party by its founder and Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic by 338 votes to 422.
Slovenia’s first ever female premier had warned ahead of the vote that she would resign if this happened, saying: “Without the support of my own party, I can no longer be the head of government”.
It was unclear on Saturday however what her next step would be, with party officials saying she was taking time to reflect and would make an announcement on Monday or Tuesday.
The office of President Borut Pahor tweeted that he would receive Bratusek on Tuesday.
Her three coalition partners all said on Saturday that the present government could not continue and that snap elections should be held without delay — a call echoed by the opposition.
“This coalition has stopped existing,” the leader of one of the coalition parties, Igor Luksic of the Social Democrats, told reporters.
“The election of Zoran Jankovic is ending the term of this government,” Karl Erjavec, head of the Pensioners’ Party, another coalition partner, told the state news agency STA.
“Snap elections are the only way to resolve this political crisis,” he said.
Under Jankovic, the PS came first in snap elections in December 2011, but he failed to form a coalition and the centre-right Janez Jansa became prime minister instead.
Corruption allegations against both men led to the collapse of Jansa’s government and to Jankovic resigning as PS head in favour of Bratusek, who formed a new centre-left administration.
On Saturday, Jankovic, who has criticised the direction the party has taken in government, said that he would like Bratusek to stay on as prime minister.
“I would like us to leave this room more united than we came,” he said, calling the weekend “a chance for reflection” and urging Bratusek “not to take any decisions”.
“As long as we stay united, we can be a force of hope for Slovenia,” he said.
Once a model newcomer to the European Union and the eurozone, the former Yugoslav republic of two million people, and in particular its banks, was hit hard by the global financial disaster of 2008-09 and the subsequent eurozone debt crisis.
But in her time in office, Bratusek has managed to satisfy Brussels that Slovenia does not need a bailout by pumping more capital into the banks and with a programme of privatisations and reforms.
Jankovic, a charismatic supermarket millionnaire, said the government was doing too little to restart the economy, but Bratusek said she had to compromise with her coalition partners.
“Politics is about nurturing fragile relations in order to build trust with partners that results in progress,” she said.
