US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA224

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, ECON, SI 
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: ZLSD RE-ELECTS PAHOR AND CHANGES ITS NAME 
 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY:  On Saturday, April 2, 2005, the United 
List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) held its Party Congress and 
elected its leadership for the next four years. Members of 
the Youth Wing won important positions, which will likely 
move the party away from the center and more to the left. 
The party members also strongly endorsed party President 
Borut Pahor's proposal to change the name of the party to 
the Social Democrats (SD).  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Current ZLSD (now SD) president Borut Pahor's rival 
for the party presidency was Aljus Pertinac, a former 
president of the party's Youth Wing.  Not unexpectedly, 
members of the Congress expressed strong support for Pahor, 
voting for him 270-119. 
 
3.  (U) Despite Pertinac's defeat, the Youth Wing 
successfully broke through at the Congress and secured 
several important positions, including Secretary General. 
Youth Wing candidate Uros Jausovec defeated Stasa Baloh 
Plahutnik, former State Secretary at the Ministry of Labor, 
256 votes to 139. 
 
4.  (U) Both Youth Wing candidates for vice-president, Luka 
Juri and Igor Luksic, made it into the second round 
elections with the latter winning the position with 241 
votes.  The second vice-president is Ms. Andreja Rihter, 
former Minister of Culture, who secured 225 votes.  Former 
Minister of Labor, Vlado Dimovski, was elected president of 
the party conference. 
 
5.  (U) The Congress also voted convincingly on Pahor's 
proposal to change the party name from the United List of 
Social Democrats (ZLSD) to Social Democrats (SD).  In 
addition to internal elections, the Congress also formed two 
new bodies:  The Council of the President of the Party, 
similar to a shadow government, and the Strategic-Program 
Council, which will be in charge of preparation of the 
party's new strategic program. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (SBU) Changing the name of the United List of Social 
Democrats (ZLSD) to simply Social Democrats (SD) symbolizes 
Pahor's consolidation of his party's identity as `the' 
social democratic party in Slovenia.  Several years ago, 
when PM Jansa's Slovene Democratic Party (SDS) was the 
Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (also SDS), Pahor 
managed to beat out Jansa's bid and gain membership for the 
ZLSD in the world organization of social democratic parties. 
While a disappointment, this turn of events probably allowed 
Jansa the leeway he needed to officially move his party to 
the center-right and to change its name. 
 
7. (SBU) The outcome of the Social Democrats' Party Congress 
demonstrates a desire to remain firmly on the left of the 
spectrum.  The strong Youth Wing showing will force Pahor to 
move a bit further left and away from the center, where he 
has recently anchored itself.  Pahor has long battled the 
entrenched former Communist apparatchiks that filled 
leadership roles in the past.  Now, he will have to manage 
youthful influences in order to fully develop his plans to 
make the party into a more traditionally European social 
democratic party.  His ultimate goal is to assume leadership 
of the political left in Slovenia, a position currently held 
by the recently ousted prime minister, Anton Rop and the 
Liberal Democracy (LDS) party. 
 
8.  (SBU) Pahor's personal goals also likely involve a bid 
for the Presidency of the Republic in 2007.  He has lately 
been following the lead of current President Janez Drnovsek, 
who in the run-up to his own presidential bid, became a less 
combative, more conciliatory political figure.  Pahor has 
the name and face recognition, solid political credentials 
and an even temperament that appeals to the Slovene voter. 
He also has the ability to cooperate with both the left and 
the right as demonstrated by his party's inclusion in the 
last government coalition, and exploration of possibly 
joining the current coalition last fall. 
 
 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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 2005LJUBLJ00224 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED 


 
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