Former president Borut Pahor went on national telly last Sunday and – among other things – said that while he is shocked (shocked!) over events in Gaza, he wouldn’t go so far to describe them as genocide. This was a direct rebuke of his successor Nataša Pirc Musar who did describe the atrocities in Palestine as genocide during her European Parliament address.
Obviously, what Borut Pahor says or does not say, has no influence on facts on the ground. It only reinforces the image of a self-serving (former?) politician, unable to take a principled stance on even the most basic of ethical questions. But it also raises (for the lack of a better word) an interesting question: has he gone mental? Because word on the street is that Pahor is attempting a political comeback.
A comeback as what, exactly, I hear you ask. Reader, that is a brilliant question. Because anything he’s ever dabbled in always came out shit. But he also always failed upwards. To borrow the words of Capt. Dudley Smith, Borut Pahor has never taken a stupid breath in his life. Could it be that he finally let his inner mouthbreather take over?
Influencer gig
Obviously, things could be painfully simple. Maybe this whole new influencer gig he got himself into isn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Maybe he needed to stir up some controversy. Promoting food supplements is par for the course in this line of work and the field is crowded as it is. It’s a job as useless as it is tough.
Not unlike blogging, mind you, but at the very least pengovsky is not pushing alimentary add-ons but rather straight up asking for your donations.
Of course, Pahor might simply have been looking to unload on president Pirc Musar. Not everyone was happy about her address at the European Parliament and Pahor is always keen to school and berate his successors, no matter how shit his own performance in a particular post might have been.
Unless, of course, his successor is Janez Janša, but that particular one-way bromance is weird as fuck as it is. And it is precisely in this context that the don’t-call-it-genocide move makes sense.
Not many options left
You see, once he hit his term-limit, former president Pahor was looking for his next high-profile job. An engagement befitting his status as an experienced elder statesman. But none of the much-heralded international gigs panned out. He didn’t land the NATO sec-gen job. He didn’t land the EU Serbia-Kosovo dialogue gig. The idea of him leading the EU Council was laughable to begin with. And his Friends of West Balkans think thank is obviously just a parking spot and an occasional lobbying vehicle.
Which is why in pengovsky’s assessment Pahor is now eyeing a return to national politics. It’s not like he has anywhere else to go. He may not necessarily be returning to the trenches, mind you. But he might see himself as some sort of an eminence grise, a behind-the-scenes power broker who doesn’t get involved until he does. A one-man deep state, if you will.
While his former party probably couldn’t say no if he asked nicely, the SD apparently isn’t too hot on hooking up with Pahor again. Which leaves the self-styled King of Instagram with either batting for Anže Logar’s Democrats, or – hear me out – running for president again.
Splitting the left-wing vote
Of the two options, the first one is more likely to happen. Though “likely” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
The gist of it is the idea that a portion of the moderate left/liberal vote could be peeled away if the current coalition descended into an internecine conflict over Gaza genocide. After all, the liberal/left bloc is prone to infighting and big on acts of performative politics.
At the very least, if things got nasty enough, a sizeable chunk of voters to choose an outside party or maybe stay at home on principle. This in turn could open up space for Logar to make inroads into the moderate vote. Which in turn would also benefit Janez Janša’s SDS. A political two-fer if there ever was one.
Think Kamala Harris and the Arab-American vote in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, daily politics is hard work. And Pahor is not really into that. The presidency was good for him and with Agent Orange occasionally signaling something similar, maybe Pahor thinks he can dream up a third presidential term. With the help of some creative interpretation of constitutional law.
Third presidential term
Word is, that Borut Pahor is either soliciting or has already secured a legal opinion to that end. According to this line of thinking, the way the constitution is written, a president can have unlimited number of terms, provided he or she takes a breather once every five or ten years. This, in turn would enable Pahor to run for a third (and potentially fourth) term.
Which, of course, is weapons-grade bullshit.
The current (and in pengovsky’s view only sensible) interpretation of the constitutional two-term presidency limit states that a president can only serve two consecutive five-year terms. At most. In fact, some people argue that Article 103 of the constitution even prevents the president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms.
Funnily enough, the supposed ambiguity of Article 103 disappears entirely in the English translation of the Slovenian constitution. Pengovsky is not saying this is the ultimate proof that Pahor is an ambitious malfeasant (by now, this much is obvious!). But in case anyone wanted to build a rebuttal case, this little detail might come in handy.
Over the last 35 years, 7 presidential terms and 5 individual presidents, no current or former office-holder even entertained the idea of circumventing democratic tradition, norms and clear intent of the constitutional framework.
Until now, apparently.
Glorious faceplant awaits
To be fair, Muddy Hollows had precisely this debate some twenty-odd years ago. Back then some people thought Milan Kučan should run for a third presidential term. But Kučan himself was against it, and – more importantly – top constitutional experts in the country flat our rejected the idea.
But these days social norms are no longer a thing, constitution is more of a suggestion than a set of rules and nothing is real anymore. Which is how Pahor is totally capable of giving his third term a shot. All the more likely if Logar and/or Janša end up on top in elections in March next year.
So, should Borut Pahor really go for it, the spectacle will be glorious. Doubly so after his epic faceplant.
Oh, and while we’re on it, Pahor’s interview had at least one positive albeit unintended consequence. Host Jože Možina, the local espresso machiatto version of Tucker Carlson, finally ran a programme that people actually watched. Even if only for a bit.
If you get it, you get it.
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