Shambles in Slovenia as PM rejected

Slovenia was thrown into political turmoil Wednesday after MPs rejected the appointment of Zoran Jankovic as the eurozone member's new prime minister, a month after his surprise election victory. In a first for the former Yugoslav republic, Jankovic failed to get a majority of legislators to support his nomination, receiving just 42 votes out of 47 cast in the 90-seat parliament after several parties abstained. President Danilo Turk had last week asked Jankovic, a charismatic millionaire and former supermarket boss, to form a government after his newly formed Positive Slovenia party came first in a December 4 poll. But the Ljubljana mayor's party failed to win enough votes for a majority in parliament, forcing him into coalition talks with other parties that have proven considerably more difficult than Jankovic had hoped. On Monday the small centre-right Citizens' List party (DLGV) rejected a tie-up, saying policy differences were too big, leaving Jankovic with insufficient support. The centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of former premier Janez Jansa, with 26 seats in parliament, has proposed an alternative centre-right coalition. "This was the will of the MPs and I accept it. My party and I did all that was needed," Jankovic, 58, said after the vote. "I believe those that boycotted today's voting will have problems explaining this to those citizens that gave them their vote." A new candidate to form a government can now be put forward by the president, a parliamentary party or a group of 10 MPs, and parliament has 14 days to vote. If the second vote fails and parliamentary parties do not agree on a new commonly acceptable prime minister, the president can dissolve the parliament and call new elections. "I regret (Jankovic's) rejection, he is a very good candidate to form Slovenia's government," Turk told journalists in a statement shortly after voting in parliament ended. He said on Thursday he would call parliamentary party leaders for a new round of consultations, adding "we will need to re-examine very seriously the situation." Jansa reacted to the vote saying Jankovic's decision to go before parliament without counting on a clear majority support for his coalition was "irresponsible" and put the country in "a very serious situation." "Our (alternative) coalition proposal remains on the table and four parties have already agreed to it," Jansa said. "But we will not make any proposals (for the future head of government) until we reach a stable majority." Slovenia's first ever early elections were called when Borut Pahor's government lost a vote of confidence in September after major reforms to the country's creaking pensions system were rejected in a referendum. The two-million-strong country has been downgraded by all three major credit rating agencies, interest rates on its debt have soared and the export-dependent economy is close to recession. Interest rates on 10-year bonds on Wednesday jumped to 7.19 percent from 6.98 percent on Tuesday and 6.83 percent on Monday, showing unease among investors about the country's future. Interest rates above seven percent are seen by experts as unsustainable over an extended period of time. The country's national debt is however low by eurozone standards, although it has grown sharply in recent years. In 2007, when Slovenia joined the euro, public debt stood at 23.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), but this year it is set to reach 45.5 percent, according to the European Commission, and 50.1 percent next year. Unemployment hit 11.5 percent of the workforce in September, and the central bank has warned it may have to cut its growth forecast for 2012 again soon from the current projection of 1.3 percent.