Slovenian National Party

The Slovenian National Party (Slovene: Slovenska Nacionalna Stranka, SNS) is a nationalist[10] far-right political party in Slovenia led by Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti. The party is known for its Euroscepticism and opposes Slovenia's membership in NATO.[11][12] It also opposes what it considers historical revisionism of events in Slovenia during World War II and to an extent is sympathetic towards the former Yugoslav government of Josip Broz Tito.[13]

Slovenian National Party

Slovenska nacionalna stranka
LeaderZmago Jelinčič Plemeniti
Founded17 March 1991
HeadquartersTivolska 13, Ljubljana
IdeologySlovenian nationalism[1]
Social conservatism
National conservatism
Economic nationalism
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism

Anticlericalism
Political positionRight-wing[2][3][4] to
far-right[5][6][7][8]
European affiliationAlliance of European National Movements[9]
Colours  Black and Yellow
National Assembly
3 / 90
Municipality mayors
0 / 212
Municipal council
14 / 2,750
Website
sns.si

Ideology

Although the party usually refuses to position itself within a left–right political spectrum, its president Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti defined himself as leftist in a 2000 interview for the magazine Mladina.[14] However, the descriptions others have given the party range from left-wing[10][15] to far-right,[5][6] including right-wing.[2][3][4] According to researchers at the University of Ljubljana, the SNS combines elements of right-wing and left-wing ideology and is not strictly a left-wing, nor a right-wing party, but nevertheless leans closer to the left.[15] The party has been seen espousing more leftist economic policies (such as opposing privatization of key national enterprises), while maintaining right-wing social views, which at least partially explains the wide variance in placing it on the political spectrum.

The party's ideology has been strongly anti-clerical and has advocated a firm laicist position.[16] The party is also opposed to gay rights.[17] The party opposes the privatisation of state-owned enterprises.[18] The party opposes the introduction of a property tax[18] and supports an increase in the minimum wage.[19] The party has called for a change of the national flag and the coat of arms, feeling that they utilize symbols used by certain World War II paramilitary groups and lack a distinctly Slovenian historical character.[20] The party supports replacing judges' lifetime mandate with an eight-year term.[21] The party is opposed to Slovenia's membership the European Union and NATO.[11][12]

Its leaders have been accused of chauvinist and even racist attitudes towards certain minorities, particularly Slovenia's Romani population.[10][16] In the early 1990s, the party campaigned against allowing refugees from former Yugoslav republics into the country.[22] The party has since moderated its rhetoric,[16] although its leaders continue to voice strongly anti-Croatian positions.[13] Among other things, Jelinčič has proposed that four disputed villages; Bužini, Mlini, Škodelini and Škrile, be placed within the municipality of Piran for the purpose of participating in Slovenian elections.[23] He also advocates improving relations with Serbia and has opposed the independence of Kosovo.[24] The SNS frequently demands better treatment of Slovene minorities in neighboring countries.[25]

Party foundations and leadership

The party was founded on 17 March 1991 by Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, who remains the party's leader.[16][26] The traditional 19th century Kozler map of United Slovenia is one of the official party symbols.[16]

In 1993, dissenting factions broke from the party and formed the Slovenian National Right and the National Party of Labor. Many of the dissenting members were supporters of Slovene Home Guard and objected to Jelinčič's support of the Slovene Partisans.[16] Another split occurred in 2008, when several Slovenian National Party MPs left the party and formed the party Lipa.[27] These splits did not seriously affect the party's structure, even though the ideologies of both SNS MPs and the party's membership tend to sometimes differ from Jelinčič's stands.

In July 2020, the party reached a cooperation agreement with the 14th Government of Slovenia.[28]

International relations

On 9 March 2016, Jelinčič and Vojislav Šešelj, president of the Serbian Radical Party, signed an agreement with the intention of bringing their parties closer in terms of partnership and political alliance.[29]

Electoral history

In the second democratic elections in Slovenia on 6 and 10 December 1992, the SNS received 10.2% of the vote and 12 of the 90 seats in parliament.[30] On 10 November 1996, their share of the vote declined to 3.22% and the party won 4 seats.[31] On 15 October 2000, the party's share of the vote increased to 4.38% and its seats in parliament remained steady at 4.[32] On 3 October 2004, the party's share of the vote increased to 6.27% and the party won 6 seats in parliament.[33] In Slovenian legislative elections on 21 September 2008, the party's share of the vote declined to 5.4% and its seats in parliament dropped to 5.[34] In the Slovenian parliamentary election on 4 December 2011, the party received 1.80% of votes and lost its representation in parliament as it did not reach the parliamentary threshold of 4%.[35] In the Slovenian parliamentary election on 13 July 2014, the party received 2.21% of votes, but did not win any seats in parliament.[36] It receives support from various strands of society and has traditionally done well among young voters and residents of the regions near the Italian and Austrian borders.[22]

In the 2002 presidential election, SNS leader Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti received 8.49% of the vote, placing third.[37] In the 2007 presidential election, Jelinčič increased his share to 19.16% of the vote, but placed fourth.[38]

The SNS received 5.02% of the vote in the 2004 European parliamentary election.[39] The party's share of the vote dropped to 2.85% in the 2009 European parliamentary election.[40] The party's share of the vote increased to 4.04% in the 2014 European parliamentary election, but it did not win any seats.[41]

Parliamentary representation

Electoral results

Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1992 119,091 10.0
12 / 90
12 4 Opposition
1996 34,422 3.22
4 / 90
8 7 Opposition
2000 47,214 4.39
4 / 90
0 7 Opposition
2004 60,750 6.27
6 / 90
2 6 Opposition
2008 56,832 5.40
5 / 90
1 5 Opposition
2011 19,786 1.80
0 / 90
5 8 non-parliamentary
2014 19,218 2.20
0 / 90
0 10 non-parliamentary
2018 37,182 4.17
4 / 90
4 9 opposition 2018–2020
gov′t support 2020–

Presidential

Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
No. of overall votes % of overall vote No. of overall votes % of overall vote
2002 Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti 97,178 8.49 (3rd)
2007 Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti 188,951 19.16 (4th)

European Parliament

Election year No. of total votes % of overall vote No. of seats won Rank
2004 21,883 5.02%
0 / 7
6
2009 13,227 2.85%
0 / 8
8
2014 16,210 4.03%
0 / 8
9
2019 18,926 4.01%
0 / 8
8

References

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  2. "Slovénie - Élections législatives 2004". perspective.usherbrooke.ca (in French). Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  3. Charles Nonne (17 September 2014). "Slovénie. Une instabilité politique chronique". La Documentation française (in French). Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  4. Alexei Monroe. LAIBACH The interrogation Machine (in French). CAMION BLANC. ISBN 9782357795181. Retrieved 14 February 2019 via Google Books.
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  8. "Slovenian nationalist party set for power after winning election".
  9. https://www.sns.si/aemn/
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  13. "All Politicians In Croatia Are Animals". Dalje.com. 20 January 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2014. Archived 6 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine
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