2026 Slovenian parliamentary election

The 2022 parliamentary election held on 24 April resulted in a landslide victory for the newly formed liberal Freedom Movement, led by former energy executive Robert Golob. The party won 34.5% of the vote and 41 seats, the largest number secured by a single party since independence, displacing the incumbent Slovenian Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Janez Janša. Only five parties entered parliament, the fewest since Slovenia’s independence. Golob announced a coalition with the Social Democrats, 7 seats and The Left, 5 seats, giving the coalition a working majority of 53 seats. The coalition agreement was signed on 24 May 2022, and the National Assembly confirmed Golob as prime minister shortly afterward. The 15th Government of Slovenia was sworn in on 1 June 2022, comprising ministers from all three coalition partners. == Date of the election ==

The next Slovenian parliamentary election took place on 22 March 2026, following an announcement by President Nataša Pirc Musar after consultations with parliamentary party leaders. This aligned with the expiry of the four-year term of the National Assembly elected on 24 April 2022. Under the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the National Assembly Elections Act (Zakon o volitvah v državni zbor), the President of Slovenia issues a decree calling parliamentary elections. Regular elections must be called no earlier than 135 days and no later than 60 days before the end of the Assembly’s term, and voting must occur no later than two months before its expiry. Once the decree is published in the Official Gazette, formal electoral procedures begin, including the appointment of electoral bodies and updates to voter registration. Candidate lists must be submitted no later than 30 days before election day, with constituency electoral commissions verifying them within five days. Campaigning is regulated by the Elections and Referendum Campaign Act, which imposes a 48-hour electoral silence before polls open. If the National Assembly is dissolved early, such as following the failure to elect a Prime Minister or a successful vote of no confidence. The President must call a snap election within 60 days. The new term begins with the Assembly’s first session after the vote. For the 2022 parliamentary election, the presidential decree was issued on 9 February 2022, setting the vote for 24 April 2022. The next parliamentary election was held on 22 March 2026, with the date announced on 22 December 2025. Timetable == Electoral system ==

Voting eligibility Citizens of Slovenia who are at least 18 years old on election day are eligible to vote in elections to the National Assembly. Voting rights are universal and equal for all eligible citizens, regardless of social, ethnic, economic, or political affiliation. Individuals deprived of legal capacity by a court decision due to an inability to understand the purpose of elections may be excluded. Slovenian citizens residing abroad also retain voting rights. They may vote by post or at diplomatic and consular missions if they notify authorities within the prescribed deadlines. Voter registration is automatic and based on the central population register maintained by the Ministry of the Interior. Electoral rolls are compiled 15 days before election day and list voters by their permanent or last registered residence. Voters must cast their ballots at the polling station assigned to them unless eligible for special voting arrangements, such as OMNIA stations for individuals who have changed residence after the roll compilation. Voting method and seat allocation The National Assembly consists of 90 members. Of these, 88 are elected through open list proportional representation across eight constituencies, each electing 11 deputies. The remaining two seats are reserved for the Italian and Hungarian minority communities, elected using the plurality voting method. Gender quotas apply to candidate lists: at least 35% of candidates must be from each gender, except on three-candidate lists, which must include at least one candidate of each gender. As of October 2025, no amendments have yet been made to the proportional representation system, and the electoral framework remains unchanged from previous elections, despite a referendum approving the introduction of the preferential vote and ongoing public and political calls for a shift toward a two-round majority electoral system. == Parties and coalitions ==

Parties in Parliament The following parties and lists have seats in the current National Assembly before the election: Seat changes • On 25 May 2022, Bojan Čebela replaced Robert Golob as a Member of the National Assembly after Golob was elected Prime Minister of Slovenia. • On 1 June 2022, Matej Arčon, Tanja Fajon, Matjaž Han and Luka Mesec left the National Assembly after being appointed ministers and Secretary-General of the Government. They were replaced by Aleksander Prosen Kralj, Tomaž Lah, Jonas Žnidaršič, Soniboj Knežak and Milan Jakopovič. The first eligible replacement for Arčon, former Minister for Health Danijel Bešič Loredan, declined the call of the National Electoral Commission and returned the mandate. • Due to his election as Mayor of Lendava on 4 December 2022, Janez Magyar left the National Assembly and was replaced by Andrej Kosi. • On 20 September 2023, MPs Martin Marzidovšek (for personal reasons) and Dejan Zavec (for health reasons) resigned their seats and were replaced by Jurij Lep and Dejan Süč. • On 24 October 2023, Freedom Movement expelled MP Mojca Šetinc Pašek. On 20 September 2025, she joined the Social Democrats. • On 7 December 2023, following his appointment to Minister for Public Administration, Franc Props was replaced by Jernej Žnidaršič. • On 12 January 2024, after being appointed Minister for Agriculture, Mateja Čalušić was replaced by former minister Uroš Brežan. • On 26 April 2024, due to personal reasons, Monika Pekošak was replaced by Branko Zlobko. • On 16 July 2024, following their election to the European Parliament, Matej Tonin and Branko Grims left the National Assembly and were replaced by Andrej Poglajen and Franc Medic. • On 14 October 2024, Anže Logar left the Slovenian Democratic Party. On 21 October 2024, Eva Irgl and Dejan Kaloh followed. Logar founded the party Democrats on 14 November 2024, joined by Irgl as vice-president. After his fight with Logar, Kaloh later founded his own party Suvereni on 20 June 2025. • Following the election of Marjan Šarec as a Member of the European Parliament, he was replaced by Borut Sajovic, who was subsequently replaced by Aleš Lipičnik on 21 October 2024. • On 10 March 2025, Miha Kordiš was expelled from The Left. On 16 November 2025, he founded the political party We, Socialists!. • On 13 October 2025, following allegations of physical violence against a former partner, MP Jani Prednik resigned his seat and was replaced by Janja Rednjak. • On 1 December 2025, after being appointed Minister of the Interior, Branko Zlobko was replaced by Mateja Zupan Josipović. • On 6 January 2026, Matej Tašner Vatovec left The Left for SD. Other parties == Campaign ==

New political parties A number of new political parties emerged after the previous election. The first was Pavel Rupar's Voice of Pensioners, founded at its inaugural congress on 20 January 2024 by former SDS MP and Mayor of Tržič Pavel Rupar. Ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, the satirical party None of the Above was established under the leadership of activist Boris Žulj and former The Left MP Violeta Tomić. In the same year, former foreign minister Anže Logar began building his own political party, and following his departure from SDS, the party Democrats was formally founded. Another new party, Karl Erjavec - Trust Party, led by four-time DeSUS Minister Karl Erjavec, was established soon afterwards. In early 2025, Marko Lotrič, President of the National Council, founded his party Focus of Marko Lotrič at an inaugural congress held at Brdo pri Kranju. Later that year, DeSUS and Good State merged into the Party of Generations, led by former Minister of Labor Vlado Dimovski. Former SDS MP Dejan Kaloh founded the party Suvereni, and a party of local lists, Community, was formed under the leadership of Mayor of Hrastnik Marko Funkl. The party Prerod – Party of Vladimir Prebilič was founded by former Mayor of Kočevje, 2022 presidential candidate and MEP Vladimir Prebilič, and former The Left MP and another 2022 presidential candidate Miha Kordiš founded the socialist party We, Socialists! Two further projects were reported to be in the process of establishment, The Guard, linked to Catholic podcaster Alen Koman, and Volt Slovenia, as a Slovenian branch of the pan-European federalist movement Volt Europa. Unlike Volt Slovenia, The Guard collected 200 signatures in time to establish a new political party, but failed to collect 100 signatures in each of the 8 electoral districts which would place the party on ballot. Pre-election cooperation Pre-election alliances, mergers, and cooperation talks reshaped the landscape. Greens of Slovenia first called for the unification of green forces on a joint list. The Left and Vesna – Green Party signed a pre-election agreement announcing a joint run in the election; the cooperation was later formally confirmed by both parties in their internal bodies. Talks about cooperation within this broader left-green axis also included the newly established localist party Community, which is also a potential partner for Prerod, as was Party of Generations until they announced they would contest the election alone. In addition, a public appeal on social media, with the liberal activist Jaša Jenull urging We, Socialists!, The Left, Vesna, and the Pirates to join forces and establish a United Progressive Front. On the centre-left, Prerod announced talks with the Social Democrats and related cooperation initiatives on the wider left. However, Prerod later rejected the option of a joint list with SD and announced it would run independently, while leaving open further talks with the Party of Generations, although they later also rejected this option. Prebilič also invited the leaders of several centre-left parties to a meeting intended to explore future cooperation, but the meeting did not take place because most invitees declined. Robert Golob invited SD, The Left, We, Socialists!, Pirates, Prerod, Vesna and unexpectedly Resni.ca for talks. Resni.ca rejected the offer and Karl Erjavec claimed that his Karl Erjavec - Trust Party was not invited because it cannot be "cannibalized". On the centre-right, Concretely merged into Democrats, and New Social Democracy, led by Andrej Magajna, later announced they were in talks about a united participation with Democrats, which was later abandoned and New Social Democracy didn't file to participate in the election. New Slovenia and the Slovenian People’s Party opened talks on possible joint cooperation, and NSi, SLS, and FOKUS each signed a separate declaration of intent and began coordinating a potential common list and the distribution of constituencies. On the nationalist side, Suvereni, United Slovenia Movement and Party of Slovenian People, MP Dejan Kaloh, Andrej Šiško and Ivan Bolfek, announced efforts to form a "sovereigntist–patriotic bloc" and referenced the political action SLOEXIT, proposing Slovenia's withdrawal from the EU and a debate on leaving NATO. Suvereni representatives later appeared at an event organised by Karl Erjavec – Trust Party, where cooperation and the formation of a new parliamentary group were discussed. However, Suvereni subsequently decided to run independently rather than enter an electoral partnership with Karl Erjavec – Trust Party, and United Slovenia Movement and Party of Slovenian People announced the forming of the Coaliton of the United Nations. After DVK rejected KZN's lists in three electoral districts, they withdrew from the election alltogether. Eventually, Suvereni decided to participate on the lists of the Trust Party. In the centre, Greens of Slovenia and Party of Generations formed an alliance. Among smaller actors, None of This and For a Healthy Society announced plans for a joint electoral list, while Resni.ca was reportedly invited but declined. Leadership changes The Left were the first to change coordinators when they replaced Luka Mesec with Asta Vrečko in 2023. Social Democrats were next when they elected Matjaž Han as party president, after Tanja Fajon resigned after Litijska Affair. In 2025, several parties reaffirmed their leaders or elected new ones. Slovenian Democratic Party subsequently held its congress, at which Janez Janša was reconfirmed as party president and continuing his 33-year long streak at the helm of the party. New Slovenia then followed as they elected Jernej Vrtovec as party president, succeeding Matej Tonin. Freedom reaffirmed Robert Golob as party president at its electoral congress. The electoral congress of The Left followed, with current coordinator Asta Vrečko and former coordinator Luka Mesec confirmed as co-coordinators. Vesna reconfirmed its co-leadership, with Urša Zgojznik and Uroš Macerl continuing as co-presidents. Slogans ==Debates and interviews==

Debates Robert Golob announced on Instagram a list of four proposed debates with Janez Janša. Meanwhile, SDS and the bloc formed by NSi, SLS, and FOKUS announced that they would not participate in debates on RTV due to the broadcaster’s decision not to air the programme Tarča, although they later reversed their decision. Janša confirmed his participation only in a debate hosted by the AIDEA podcast, led by Klemen Selakovič. He also proposed a public debate format, suggesting venues such as Cankar Centre, Exhibition and Convention Centre, or Maribor. Under his proposal, each candidate would be allowed to bring two journalists to ask questions, while members of the audience would also have the opportunity to participate. During the pre-election campaign, TV SLO 1 broadcast a total of eight televised election debates, scheduled between 19 February and 19 March. Debates involving parliamentary parties aired on five Thursdays at 8:00 p.m., starting on 19 February, while debates featuring non-parliamentary parties were broadcast on three Mondays at 8:00 p.m., beginning on 2 March. The debates also included thematic programmes focusing on specific policy areas, including healthcare and long-term care, foreign policy and security, as well as the economy, taxation, and wages. The pre-election series concluded with a final debate between the leaders of parliamentary parties on 19 March. On Radio Prvi, election debates was held on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. between 25 February and 18 March. The final debate brought together representatives of all political parties. In addition to its traditional large-scale election debates, POP TV also produced eight weekly interviews with party leaders as part of the 24UR news programme. The paired interviews were conducted by journalists from the evening news team Žana Vertačnik, Anže Božič, Marko Gregorc, and Kaja Kobetič, as well as journalists from the 24ur.com portal, including Urša Zupan, Mirko Vorkapić, Natalija Švab, and Maruša Slana. As part of the evening current affairs programme Odmevi on TV SLO 1, profiles of political parties were broadcast between 3 and 16 February 2026. These profiles focused on parties polling above two percent in public opinion surveys ahead of the upcoming elections and consisted of nine approximately fifteen-minute interviews with party leaders, prepared and conducted by the programme’s hosts. In February 2026, the online portal Domovina aired the podcast Volitve 2026, hosted by Vida Petrovčič. The series presented centrist and centre-right political parties and focused on themes described as being "more oriented towards the survival, future, and development of Slovenia." == Endorsements ==

Opinion polling for the next Slovenian parliamentary election is being carried out continually by various organisations to gauge voting intention. The dates for these opinion polls range from the 2022 Parliamentary election on 24 April to the present day. Polling aggregations Exit poll Below is listed Mediana's demographic breakdown. ==Results==

The election resulted in a hung parliament, with no major party being likely to secure a majority of 46 seats. Freedom Movement (GS) received 28.63% of the vote, while the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) received 27.95% of the vote, creating a gap of 0.68 percentage points, the smallest margin ever between the top two parties in a Slovenian parliamentary election. With GS and SDS winning 29 and 28 seats respectively, the left-leaning bloc led by Golob decreased to 40 MPs and the right-leaning bloc led by Janša increased to 43 MPs. In third place was the right-wing coalition of New Slovenia, Slovenian People's Party and Focus taking 9.29% of the vote and winning a total of nine seats (NSi won 7 seats, SLS won 1 seat and Focus won 1 seat). The Social Democrats and Democrats each took around 6.70% of the vote, giving both parties their respective six seats. Left–Vesna took five seats (The Left won all 5 seats) with 5.58% of the vote, while Resni.ca also took five seats with 5.52% of the vote. Zoran Stevanović, leader of Resni.ca, stated that the party was not interested in joining the right-leaning bloc led by Janša. Constituency results The SDS prevailed in five constituencies out of eight, winning in Celje, as well as Kranj, Novo Mesto and Ptuj, where they secured their best result at 32.67% of the vote. The party also secured Maribor, Slovenia's second-largest city, with 30.75% of the vote. Conversely, the GS won the capital districts of Ljubljana Bežigrad and Ljubljana Center, as well as Postojna, where they recorded their best result at 34.79% of the vote. The GS's performance represented a decline from their 2022 result, when they won all eight constituencies; however, they still secured a plurality of seats in three electoral districts: Ljubljana Center, Ljubljana Bežigrad and Novo Mesto. Conversely, the SDS won their pluralities in Ptuj and Celje, while the two parties won an even amount of delegates in Postojna, Maribor and Kranj. Turnout Early voting Election day Turnout by electoral districts ==Government formation==

Following the election, prime minister Robert Golob said that he would try to create a government of national unity and invited all parties, except SDS, for coalition talks. This offer was rejected by NSi and its partners, the Slovenian People's Party and Focus of Marko Lotrič. Leaders of the Democrats and Resni.ca stated that they do not want to be in a government together with The Left. On 1 April, the leaders of Democrats, Resni.ca and NSi announced that their intention to form a centre-right coalition or a "third bloc" in anticipation of imminent post-election coalition talks. This third bloc would hold 20 seats in the National Assembly and would further complicate the path to a government formation. The leader of Resni.ca, Zoran Stevanović, stated that his party would not support any government led by Janez Janša or Robert Golob, stating his preference for a repeat snap election. Despite this, Golob called for the will of the voters to be respected and expressed enthusiasm that the next government would be led by his party. Anže Logar, the leader of the Democrats called for Golob to announce a ministry allocation proposal. On 7 April, Golob announced allocations of ministries in the proposed national unity government: seven for Freedom Movement, three for NSi-led coalition and two for SD, Democrats and The Left each. He also expected external cooperation with Resni.ca on some topics. The offer was rejected by NSi-led coalition. Golob also proposed individual coalition talks with these parties. On 10 April, Resni.ca leader Zoran Stevanović was elected speaker of the National Assembly after being nominated by Resni.ca, SDS and NSi MPs. GS announced that they voted against him, while The Left and SD abstained. On 12 April, newsletter Dnevnik reported that at least two MPs from the Democrats had worries about possible Janša-led government. Leader of the Democrats, Anže Logar, later stated that his party is unified and that the GS is still the only party that invited them for coalition talks. On 17 April, Anže Logar officially stated that his party is leaving coalition talks with GS, because GS attempted to negotiate with individual MPs to cross the floor. Robert Golob responded by accusing Logar and Stevanović of cheating their own voters by giving fake pre-election promises of not entering a government led by Janša and by only pretending to have real interest in forming a possible second government led by GS. Furthermore, Golob released documents from coalition negotiations, where GS promised to fulfill all main points of the pre-election programme of the Democrats. On 20 April, Golob admitted that he could not form a government and said that his party would go into opposition. On 21 April, Freedom Movement announced that they were filing a constitutional complaint regarding the election of the speaker, asserting that a number of ballots used in the speakership election were visibly marked, which would allegedly be a violation of national deputies’ right to the fairness of a secret vote in the speakership election. On 25 April, president Nataša Pirc Musar stated after finishing personal consultations with all leaders of elected parties that she would not nominate someone for prime minister, because no one reached the required minimum of 46 votes. She also said that these personal consultations had no trust, respect or honesty and that she sees a lot of changes in positions and behavior of parties after the election. ==See also==