Slovenia
The story
Since independence in 1991, Slovenia has run a multi-party system with fairly high turnover, but a broad consensus favouring EU integration and Western orientation, fringe parties aside. Most governments have been coalitions.
1989–2013 · Janša's first two governments
The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), founded in 1989 as the Social Democratic Party, has been led by Janez Janša since 1993. Around the turn of the millennium it dropped its social-democratic identity, joined the EPP and moved in a more nationalist and populist direction. Janša was prime minister in 2004–08 and 2012–13, with criticism focused on media freedom.
2020– · A third term, and Levica's rise
Janša's third government (2020–22) was marked by attacks on journalists and pressure on public media. Freedom House (2022) and V-Dem both found that this government significantly weakened Slovenia's democratic standards. Although SDS came second in the 2026 election, Janša built a majority and returned as prime minister for a fourth time. SDS remains pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine but close to Orbán and Trump, and has consistently belonged to the EPP family.
On the left, Levica, formed in 2014 from a coalition of green, progressive and radical-left forces and unified as a party in 2017, entered government after the 2022 election, the first time the Slovenian radical left had done so, and returned to opposition after the 2026 election. It is leftist on economics, sceptical of NATO and progressive on social issues. The Slovenian National Party (SNS), anti-immigration and opposed to EU and NATO membership since forming in 1991, has never joined government but supported the 2018–20 minority government.
2021-2026 · RESNI.CA
Resni.ca (“Let’s Get Real”), founded in 2021 as an anti-lockdown movement, has broadened from opposing pandemic restrictions to criticising immigration, climate policy and the establishment. It entered parliament in 2026 with five seats and helped form Janez Janša's fourth government, with leader Zoran Stevanović becoming Speaker while the party stayed outside the cabinet. Often called pro-Russian, it wants sanctions gradually lifted and a NATO referendum, and Stevanović plans to visit Moscow.
EP elections
SDS has sat in the EPP group since Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, but in 2026 its MEP Branko Grims was expelled from the EPP Group for working with the far-right ESN. No Slovenian MEP has ever represented a far-left or far-right EP group.
SDS
Slovenian Democratic Party
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium
Levica
The Left
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low
Resni.ca
Let's Get Real
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism High