coalition | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Asta Vrečko, Chairwoman of the Politburo

Since pengovsky is still playing catch-up, one of the events left to process is Asta Vrečko taking over as Levica… President? Chairwoman? Coordinatress? Whatever her title, the minister of culture is now leader of the left-most coalition party. Which should not come as a surprise to either reader of this here blog.

Culture minister Asta Vrečko delivering her address during Culture Day celebrations in February 2023. She now takes over as Levica leader. — *Asta Vrečko as minister of culture in February 2023 (source)*

It was obvious that Vrečko was being primed for a leadership position in Levica. If not sooner, since her pilgrimage to Čebine back in April. Somewhat more surprising was the change in leadership happening so quickly. Surprising to this scribe, at least. Back in April pengovsky thought the transition was at least a couple of years away. Little did he know that Levica bolsheviks would scare the shit out Luka Mesec in less than four months’ time.

A Hope And A Prayer

It may not seem like it but it has been nearly eight years and four governments since Muddy Hollows last had to deal with a no-confidence vote. And before 2013, the only other time a no-confidence vote was mounted was in 1992. In short, a no-confidence vote is pretty fucking rare in this neck of the woods. Doubly so when the effort is led by Karl Erjavec, something pengovsky still can’t completely get his head around.

Be that as it may, today Komeback Karl, supported by LMŠ, SD, SAB and Levica parliamentary groups, filed the fifth no-confidence motion in the history of democratic Slovenia. Wait. Fifth? Pengovsky, you dumbass, you said it only happened in 1992 and 2013!? Well, allow me to elucidate with references to specifics…

Strange Bedfellows

Politics, as they say, makes for strange bedfellows. Doubly so in Muddy Hollows, where 2020 has, among other disasters, served the country with the notion of Karl Erjavec as a serious contender for the PM post. It’s not that Erjavec doesn’t have qualifications for the job, at least on paper. It’s that it wasn’t that long ago that people were willing to drown him in his own spit for what they correctly perceived as his self-centered, arrogant and destructive politicking at the expense of everyone else.

*DeSUS is *this* close to bailing on the Glorious Leader*

And now that DeSUS leadership has voted to quit the government of Janez Janša, Komeback Karl is being hailed as the last, best hope for Muddy Hollows to finally turn the corner in the fucking mess that is the second wave of Covid-19 epidemic coupled with an increasingly illiberal government. This, of course, speaks volumes of the sad state this country has found itself in since the Glorious Leader announced victory in mid-May.

Janez Janša’s Tweetpocalypse Now

After trying very hard to ignore it for days, Slovenian political class finally started weighing in on the slow-motion car crash that was PM Janša’s Twitter meltdown over the course of the past week.

*With apologies to Francis Ford Coppola and Manon Champredon (source)*

But, drawing the ire several prominent US diplomats and then becoming the poster-boy for European flavour of trumpism in the eyes of numerous media outlets, only emboldened the Glorious Leader who then proceeded to all but destroy, in a matter of days, what little standing Muddy Hollows had in European and international diplomacy.

Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2

No matter how you look at it, Slovenian prime minister Janez Janša is not having a good post-epidemic. His majority in the parliament has shrunk down to a single vote in a matter of days, the biking protest movement shows no signs of abating and his onslaught against the public broadcaster somehow continues not to go according to plan. And to top it all off, there is his Twitter habit which keeps backfiring.

*PM Janša having his moment witht the BBC*

While there is no real danger of PM Janša again becoming ex-PM Janša anytime soon, shifting gears from the adrenaline-filled environment of political epidemiology to the mundane everyday of coalition-processed policy did not go smoothly for the Glorious Leader, and it showed.