Elections '26 | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

10 Takeaways From Assisted Dying Referendum Whoopass

On Sunday, Slovenians rejected the law on assisted dying. When the referendum dust settled, the NO campaign of Aleš Primc and a host of other organisations pulled in a respectable 54 % of the vote amid a near-historic 41% turnout. This means they easily cleared both hurdles needed for rejection of the law. They won a majority which also represented more than 20% of all eligible voters.

The final results of the referendum vote on the law on assisted dying. — *The final referendum tally (source: DVK)*

To say that the result came as a shock to many in the YES camp would be an understatement. Going into the final days of the campaign, proponents of the law were oozing optimism backed by some very favourable polling. But then the numbers started rolling in. Pengovsky didn’t share this optimism to begin with, so here are ten takeaways from the Sunday whoopass.

Šutar Act: Robert Golob Knows A Good Crisis When He Sees One

Late Monday night, Slovenian parliament approved the Šutar Act. PM Robert Golob and his government drafted the law as a response to an incident in Novo mesto about three weeks ago, where a man was attacked outside a night club by one or more members of the Roma minority and later died of injuries sustained in the brawl. But it is also much more than that.

Robert Golob outlined the Šutar Act only days after the fatal incident involving Roma attackers in Novo mesto, during a tense session of the city council. The law was passed earlier this week. — *Robert Golob durint the tense session of Novo mesto city council (source: STA YouTube)*

For some time, tensions between the majority Slovenian and minority Roma populations in Dolenjska region have been running high. A combination of crime (petty and otherwise), failure of integration policies, welfare abuse and bog-standard chauvinism have turned every interaction between the two groups into a flashpoint. And then the point flashed. Bigly.

Stupid Before The Storm: Golob Hit By Bobnar Boondoggle

Initially, this was going to be the write up of PM Golob and his role in the magnificently messy end to the NATO referendum pissing contest. But stupid just kept coming. Plus, there was vacay, and things to see and people to do and… well, here we are.

Robert Golob probably feeling it, probably (source and source)

Slovenian political class did us all a solid and finally departed for their vacation. However, they are also about to return to Muddy Hollows, interfrastically, In the mean time, they’ve set some ticking time-bombs that are set to explode at the height of upcoming campaign season. What follows is a short series to catch up with stupid before the storm.

Somehow, Robert Golob Made Slovenian NATO Shit-Show Even Worse

Some men are born great. Others achieve greatness. But some are just stupid little shits willing to put national security at stake in a coalition pissing contest. This, is in essence is what Robert Golob surprise announcement of a NATO membership referendum boils down to. There’s a backstory to it, obviously. But for starters suffice it to say the highlight of Friday’s shit-show was entirely due to Robert Golob’s fragile ego.

PM Robert Golob during NATO summing in The Hague. In Slovenia he is looking down the barrel of yt another referendum. This time on defence spending and NATO. — *PM Robert Golob during NATO summing in The Hague (source)*

First, the SDS (predictably) outmanouvered him in the parliament. Then, the SD (also predictably) hung him out to dry on 5% defence spending referendum. And then the Big Bird flew (!) off the handle and made the whole shit-show even worse by calling for a referendum on NATO membership. Talk about shooting your balls off just to prove a point.

NSi Discontinues Matej Tonin

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.

Like Windows 10, Matej Tonin has reached end-of-support. There will be no further updates to the software. Ljudmila Novak would like a word while Janez Janša is chuckling. — *End of NSi support for Matej Tonin*

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.