Janez Cigler Kralj | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

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.

Presidential Election: A Three-Way Race For The Big Cheese

Muddy Hollows is about two-and-a-half weeks away from the first round of the presidential election in Muddy Hollows. Thus, it is about fucking time we had some serious polls. Based on that it looks like a three-way race for the top two spots leading into the second round. Scheduled for mid-November, it will most likely end in a victory for the candidate who is not Anže Logar.

A picture from the first presidential election debate on TV Slovenia. — *Presidential debate on RTVSLO (source: RTVSLO)*

That said, things are still very fluid at the top right now. Especially of note is the relatively large pool of undecided voters. 15 percent is enough to shake up the order of the top three. On the other hand, the remaining four candidates probably won’t break out of single digits, much less make a serious play at the second round.

Robert Golob Shoots Himself In The Same Foot Twice

When pengovsky went on summer vacay, the presidential race looked like a no-brainer. Sure, a week is a long time in politics. But with Nataša Pirc Musar, Anže Logar and Marta Kos declaring early, things seemed pretty much decided. The only question was whether Logar would lose to Kos or to Pirc Musar in the second round. This scenario went to hell in a hand-basket when Marta Kos bailed out of the race late last month, leaving Robert Golob with a bit of a problem.

Marta Kos, Robert Golob and Milan Brglez. — *Kos, Golob and Brglez. Or, in aviary terms, blackbird, pigeon and nuthatch.*

Then things got really interesting really fast. First, the NSi launched their own candidate. This all but denied Anže Logar the chance to unify the right-wing vote in the first round. And then Social Democrats – after an intensive internal monolgoue – fielded Milan Brglez MEP as their man on the ballot. Finally, Robert Golob made a string of strategic fuck-ups and ended up looking as if he only entered national politics last year. Oh, wait…