Beginning of a New Era in Slovenia

The opposition SocDems (SD) hold a paper-thin lead over their main rivals, the ruling Slovenian Democrats (SDS), as nearly all votes from Slovenia were counted in yesterday's general election. But the vote has produced no clear-cut ruling coalition.

With 99.97% of the votes counted, SD has won 30.50% of the vote ahead of the SDS with 29.32% to give it an edge of one seat in parliament.
The lack of a clear winner has produced muted reactions from the main rivals, SocDem leader Borut Pahor and SDS president Janez Jansa.
Pahor did not declare victory. He labelled the party's showing as an "excellent result", however, he said that it will be necessary to wait for the final results.
The SD had formed an informal coalition with Zares and the LibDems (LDS), which got 9.40% and 5.19% respectively. This gives the trio 43 seats in the 90-seat legislature, three votes short of an outright majority.
Pahor has already talked to the leaders of Zares and the LibDems, Gregor Golobic and Katarina Kresal. He said they agreed to wait a few days and then sit down together.

"This is a great achievement for us but we will still have to wait for the official final results by the [electoral] commission," Mr Pahor told reporters on Sunday.

Mr Jansa's allies fared badly in the polls, with one of the centre-right parties failing to reach the 4% threshold.

Mr Jansa admitted that the centre-left coalition had "more chance" of forming the next government.

While the economic policies of the two main parties are similar, a left-leaning government could be expected to focus more on the redistribution of wealth to poorer parts of society, the BBC's Nick Thorpe says.