Slovenia’s first female president set to take office after defeating right-wing rivals

Europe, News November 14, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Natasa Pirc Musar, a 54-year-old lawyer turned politician, is set to take the presidential seat in Slovenia after winning the 2022 general elections. She would become the country’s first-ever female president.

After counting 99 percent of the votes on November 13, 2022, the election commission of Slovenia announced that Musar won with a 53.8 percent majority, while her right-wing opponent and former foreign minister Andze Logar managed to get 46.17 percent of the votes in the run-off. The election commission’s database reported a 49.9 percent turnout for the general election of 2022.

The newly elected president of the EU and NATO member state would replace her predecessor Borut Pahor. Pahor served his term in the office for the last five years. The former fashion model turned politician has been active in politics for the last 30 years after joining the Social Democrat party of Slovenia. He was widely referred to by the public as Instagram President due to his background in the fashion industry and profound use of social media, while his opponents used the same background to criticize him for his policies.

Pirc Musar started her career as a TV presenter. She later became an influential lawyer and entered the political campaigning on human rights, rule of law, and social welfare issues. She has also served as a former data privacy commissioner and was backed by Slovenia’s center-left government.

Musar was also hired to represent Melania Trump, the Slovenian-born wife of former U.S. President Donald Trump, during her husband’s presidency period. Her job included protecting her interest and stopping Slovenian companies from attempting to commercialize products with her name.

*^{Presidential candidate Natasa Pirc Musar votes on presidential elections in Radomlje, Slovenia October 23, 2022. (Image Credit: Reuters/Borut Zivulovic)}*

Musar’s rival Andze Logar, a 46-year-old member of former prime minister Janez Jansa’s right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). He was running for the seat of President after serving as the foreign minister in the previous government.

Earlier in April this year, Logar lost the parliamentary election to the environmentalist Freedom Movement of Prime Minister Robert Golob. Logar’s campaign slogan was: “Let’s work together for the future”. His speeches focused on traditional family values and religion in the largely Roman Catholic country.

In Slovenia’s government system the role of parliament is largely ceremonial as the power lies with the Presidential office. However, Pirc Musar has indicated that she would conduct herself differently from her predecessors and that her rule of law would be more inclusive where parliament also has a significant role to play. Former Presidents of Slovenia rarely intervened on domestic political issues and focused more on international fronts.