The Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia ( sl, Demokratična stranka upokojencev Slovenije, also known by the acronym DeSUS) is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
led by Ljubo Jasnič. The party claims broadly liberal values with a strong focus on the interests of the retired and the elderly. Despite being part of virtually every governmental coalition of Slovenia since it started appearing on voting ballots, the party only secured 0.66% of all votes at the most recent Slovenian parliamentary election in 2022 and thus failed to secure any seats in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
.
The party joined the
European Democratic Party
The European Democratic Party (EDP) (French: Parti Démocrate Européen; PDE) also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. François Bayrou is the President of the party.
All ...
in February 2019.
Overview
DeSUS was founded in 1991 and first entered the
National Assembly of Slovenia
The National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, or ), is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively ...
after the
1996 Slovenian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 10 November 1996.Bajuk minority government which lasted from June to November 2000, until 2020. From May 2005 until 2020 the party was led by
Karl Erjavec
Karl Viktor Erjavec (born 21 June 1960) is a Slovenian lawyer and politician who served in the government of Slovenia as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2018. He was the president of the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia, havi ...
, who served in various ministerial positions for most of those 15 years, making him almost synonymous with the party itself as well as one of the most recognisable politicians in Slovenia. At the party congress in January 2020, he was defeated by Agriculture minister
Aleksandra Pivec
Aleksandra Pivec (born 26 March 1972) is a Slovenian chemical engineer and politician who served as the country's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food from 2018 to 2020 and Deputy Prime Minister from March to October 2020.
Early life and e ...
who thereby assumed the leadership of the party. Upon his loss, Erjavec announced he would be leaving politics but remain an active DeSUS member. After the resignation of the Marjan Šarec minority government, DeSUS opted to form a new government with former prime minister
Janez Janša
Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2 ...
with Pivec continuing on in her current ministerial position. The decision came as a surprise to some as during the latter years under Erjavec the party had been taking an increasingly oppositional stance towards Janša and SDS, despite having taken part in Janša's 1st (2004-2008) and 2nd (2012-2013) governments, having gone as far as to explicitly campaign on an anti-Janša platform during the 2018 parliamentary election, particularly notable by party's close campaign cooperation with
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
's mayor Zoran Janković, well-known for his public opposition to Janša.
14th Government of Slovenia
After the party's entry into Janša's 3rd government the divisions within the party became increasingly public, culminating in all 5 of the party's MPs as well as Health minister
Tomaž Gantar
Tomaž Gantar (born 21 March 1960) is a Slovenian politician. He was the Minister of Health in Slovenia from 13 March 2020 to 18 December 2020 in the 14th Government of Slovenia
The 14th Government of Slovenia was formed following the resign ...
calling for the resignation of Aleksandra Pivec in August 2020. During the summer Pivec had become embroiled in a series of allegations of corruption and inappropriate behavior after making visits to a winery and the coastal town of
Izola
Izola (; it, Isola ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Adriatic coast of the Istrian peninsula. It is the seat of the Municipality of Izola. Its name originates from Italian ''Isola'', which means 'island'.
History
An ancient Roman ...
, the costs of which were covered by the private company Vina Kras and the Izola municipal government. This culminated in a public media spat between Pivec and the DeSUS parliamentary group with Pivec alleging she was being undermined by underground elements of the party and its former leader Karl Erjavec. The situation further escalated as various regional party branches voted to either support Pivec or call for her dismissal. As the national party council under the direction of Tomaž Gantar prepared to convene and vote on a
motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
against Pivec and a motion to dismiss her from her position, she announced that such a dismissal would be illegitimate (as she believed only the national party congress could remove the party leader) and that she was prepared to fight it. A motion of no confidence was passed by the DeSUS national council on 22 August 2020. The vote for her dismissal was scheduled on 9 September, but Pivec resigned just before it took place and Gantar took over as acting leader (despite the party's
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...
putting the three deputy leaders of the party ahead of him in the line of succession). On 5 October she also resigned as agriculture minister and deputy prime minister as the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
was set to remove her from these functions. She has since left DeSUS but vowed to remain in politics.
At the December 2020 party congress
Karl Erjavec
Karl Viktor Erjavec (born 21 June 1960) is a Slovenian lawyer and politician who served in the government of Slovenia as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2018. He was the president of the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia, havi ...
once again became party president. The party's MPs were opposed his idea of leaving the governmental coalition, whereas the party leadership supported it (The disagreements between the leadership and the parliamentary group continued until the conclusion of the contemporary National Assembly
term
Term may refer to:
* Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in particular:
**Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field, specifically:
***Scientific terminology, terms used by scient ...
in 2022, preceded by further division among MPs themselves). Erjavec left the party on 10 March 2020 and was replaced by Anton Balažek as the party president. He was later replaced by Brigita Čokl as acting president. Ljubo Jasnič was then elected in party elections on 19 June 2021 with 54 delegate votes out of 117. Despite his opposition to prime minister Janša, DeSUS ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
'' remained part of his coalition government. Jasnič eventually lead the party at the 2022 parliamentary election, where for the first time in its history, it secured no seats.