Janez Janša | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Muddy Hollows Election Campaign: Party Like It’s 2018

For an election campaign that is as bereft of ideas asthat parrot was of life, things are both surprisingly active in Muddy Hollows these days. Or maybe it is precisely because of that, as the political class needs to be seen doing something. Even if it all amounts to practically nothing.

A standard issue ballot box, the likes of which will be used after the 2026 election campaign wraps up in Muddy Hollows. Robert Golob, Janez Janša, Anže Logar and the rest of the gang act as if they can't wait for this to be over. — A ballot box. Really.

This blogger is a couple of days late with this post because there were things to see, people to do and because adulting is hard in general. But there’s also the fact that public opinion polls are remarkably stable and have been for a while. With less than a month to go, it is now beyond obvious that this is a base-only campaign.

Slovenian Election To Be Held On 22 March, Says The Prez

Parliamentary election in Muddy Hollows is scheduled for 22 March this year. This is the gist of a decree president Nataša Pirc Musar signed earlier today. The date is not a surprise as NPM said as much just before Christmas. But it does mean that as of today the game is officially afoot.

President Nataša Pirc Musar set 22 March this year as election day for electing a new Slovenian parliament. — *President Pirc Musar signing the election decree (photo: Bor Slana/STA)*

Both readers of course know that the game has actually been afoot at least since October. The only real casualty here is pengovsky’s slightly tongue-in-cheek projection of 8 March as election date. But for that to happen, a lot of things would have to fall in place. Including a pliant president. And we know how things are in that department.

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: Ghost of Bobnar Past

Remember this story? Or this one? Or the one before? In the Muddy Hollows history of stupid, PM Robert Golob and his falling out with interior minister Tatjana Bobnar will hold an infamously prestigious spot. The story simply refuses to go away and like the ghost of Christmas past, keeps haunting the PM.

Tatjana Bobnar and Robert Golob, back when this whole thing started and she accused him of abuse of office. Now the state prosecution and the courts are involved. — *Tatjana Bobnar and Robert Golob, back when this whole thing started*

In this latest iteration, the prosecution filed for a judicial investigation into whether the Apex Avian abused office with regard to appointing the chief of police back in 2022. And now the coalition is rankled and the opposition is calling for Golob’s resignation.

Stupid Before The Storm: Mother Of All Walkbacks

Slowly, with the speed of a decrepit snail on valium, pengovsky is bringing this blog up to speed all the stupid that happened in the lull before the campaign storm. And at last, we get to take a look at the NATO near-miss that made everyone look up and ask whether Slovenian political class really is capable of handling this sovereign state thingy.

NATO and Muddy Hollows. because pengovsky couldn't be bothered with yet another picture of PM Golob to represent the mother of all walkbacks — *NATO and Muddy Hollows. because pengovsky couldn’t be bothered with yet another picture of PM Golob*

As everyone knows by now, there will not be a referendum on Slovenian NATO membership. There will not even be a referendum on defence spending resolution. In fact, six weeks after nearly sleepwalking into a clusterfuck of epic proportions, people involved are pretending like the whole thing never happened.

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.

Janez Janša Forever And Ever

What do Janez Janša and PFAS have in common? Apparently, both are forever. That, at least, is one of the takeaways of the SDS congress that took place this past weekend. The other takeaway being that the Party and its Glorious Leader will (again) go for broke.

Janez Janša during his acceptance speech. With almost 40 years as SDS president he is basically a forever president. — *Janez Janša humbly accepting four more years as Party leader (source)*

Janša won his tenth consecutive term as SDS leader by a lopsided 98.4 % of the vote. This makes him the longest-serving living party leader in Europe, bar none. And even among the dearly departed party chiefs, the only one to have served longer than Marshal Twito is, well, OG Marshal Tito.