Europe News

Slovenians vote in presidential run-off

Nov 11, 2007, 11:19 GMT

Ljubljana - Slovenians began voting at Sunday in the presidential run-off vote, with the initial underdog Danilo Tuerk on the verge of upsetting the pollsters' favourite, Lojze Peterle. Tuerk, 55, is a law professor who served Slovenia as its ambassador at the United Nations. The independent Slovenia's first premier, Peterle, 59, is a European Parliament deputy. While the conservative Peterle was tipped as a clear frontrunner ahead of the October 21 first-round vote, he went into the run-off trailing Tuerk 31 to 69 per cent in popularity polls. Should Tuerk win, Slovenia would continue electing heads of the state - with largely ceremonial powers - from the political left, after Milan Kucan twice and the incumbent Janez Drnovsek. Gravelly ill, Drnovsek did not seek re-election. The 1.6 million registered Slovenian voters will be able to cast ballots between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm, with exit polls expected to tip the winner shortly after the voting ends. Slovenia, the small Alpine-Adriatic former Yugoslav republic, in 2004 joined NATO as well as the European Union, over which it assumes the six-month presidency on January 1, 2008. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Europe News

Slovenians vote in presidential run-off

On the Web

Your Talkback on this Story

Similar articles

Latest Headlines in Europe

Older Talkback

Like M&C on Facebook

Viral Web

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print