Matej Tonin, the Internet Explorer of Slovenian politics, will receive no further upgrades as of September this year. The NSi leader who came to power in a coup against Ljudmila Novak back in 2017 exited the stage in pretty much the same fashion, back-stabbed by his own party council.
Namely, despite earlier assurances to the contrary, NSi honchos decided on Friday afternoon they are amenable to teaming up with Janez Janša and his SDS after the 2026 election. And so they did to Tonin what Tonin did to Ljudmila Novak, and cachiered him unceremoniously. Just as pengovsky prediced a year ago.
Officially, it was Tonin who decided not to have another go, after the party leadership did a volte-face on the no-Janša rule. But it was Tonin who championed the rule in the first place. Therefore, it is obvious that the party saw Tonin as an obstacle to their political ambitions. So, they got rid of him, expeditiously.
Matej Tonin getting the Ljudmila Novak treatment
It is all very simple, really. Even though the NSi suffered in SDS-led coalitions, the lure of political power is simply too great. The supposed party of propriety will rather look away than trouble itself with the morals of enabling the Glorious Leader and his authoritarian rule.
Then again, it’s not like they don’t have the practice.
The irony of Tonin receiving the Ljudmila Novak treatment is, of course, lost on no-one. After she brought the party back from the dead, Ljudmila Novak was on the cusp of breaking out of the orbit around SDS. It was at that that very moment that the young NSi guard under Tonin’s nominal leadership pushed her out in 2017, ostensibly due to middling election results.
Needless to say Tonin didn’t fare much better 2018 election. He did, however, land his party in yet another Janša-led coalition in 2020. Only to realise that Novak was right all along and that NSi hangs around the Glorious Leader at its own peril.
But apparently the party leadership are gluttons for punishment. Which is why they are happy to have another go at licking the boots of Marshal Twito.
Hardliners vs. Moderates
There’s a reason pengovsky calls Matej Tonin the Internet Explorer of Slovenian politics. As a politician, dude simply is not the quickest of cats, even at the best of times. For example, it took him six fucking months to realise that the 2022 election rout was a massive anti-Janša vote. And even longer, that his party was on the wrong side of the equation.
But he did manage to thread the needle between the pro-business and ideologically hard-line wings of the NSi. With him gone, these two factions will duke it out for control of the party. Probably in open combat.
The two main contenders for NSi presidency are Jernej Vrtovec and Janez Cigler Kralj. Simplifying things a bit, the former represents the pro-business side of the party while the latter has become an outspoken social conservative. And while there doesn’t seem to be an outright favourite, Cigler Kralj’s hard-line faction seems to hold a bit of an edge. Not in the least because another outspoken NSi moderate was just taken out of the equation.
David Klobasa, a popular and liberal(ish) small-town NSi mayor, who made great leaps in humanizing the party that often struggles with accepting realities of the modern world, recently failed two DUI tests. No biggie for a celebrity mayor, apparently, but fatal for a politician with national ambitions.
Thus the NSi hardliners seem to have the upper hand as the party gears for a leadership contest.
Rinse, repeat
And of course, it is only a matter of time when the next party president, whoever that may be, realises that hobnobbing with Janša is killing the NSi and tries to exit the orbit around SDS.
At which point the entire cycle will repeat itself.
Pengovsky writes this blog free of charge. If you like it, buy him a coffee using the above button. If you already did, live long and prosper!
