SMC | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 3: Igor Zorčič’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Welcome to Part Three of taking the lay of the political land in Slovenia. If this is your first contact with the series, check out parts One and Two. Today pengovsky takes both readers into the myriad of smaller parties and coalitions in Muddy Hollows. Not all of them, mind you. Because even in the world of parties-as-a-hobby, some are more equal that the others.

Igor Zorčič founded LIDE, the youngest political party in Muddy Hollows. — *Igor Zorčič at LIDE founding congress (source)*

Granted, Speaker Igor Zorčič is by no means the only one inhabiting this particular niche parties. But he earns top billing by the virtue of the office he holds. Also, by the fact that his party ties directly into the story of Robert Golob.

Wild Wednesday in Muddy Hollows

Harold Wilson once observed, and pengovsky is fond of repeating, that a week in politics is a long time. Rarely was this more true than in Muddy Hollows these days, where Jože P. Damijan’s antics on national television seem all but forgotten.

Image of European Parliament with Ljudmila Novak, Karl Erjavec and Zdravko Počivalšek in Muddy Hollows

The one-time PM-hopeful was replaced in the news cycle by the EU parliament debate on media freedom in Slovenia (plus Hungary and Poland), Karl Erjavec quitting DeSUS (again), Zdravko Počivalšek of SMC sending a CYA letter to everyone and Ljudmila Novak of NSi denying that she’s about to launch her own party. And you know what that other British PM had to say about denials.

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.

Wither Hojs

What pengovsky first predicted about a month and a half ago finally happened on Tuesday: Aleš Hojs resigned as interior minister. Hopefully, the door won’t hit him on his way out. Or even if it did, this scribe couldn’t really give a flying fuck.

Interior minister Aleš Hojs (left) and police chief Bojan Travner, both freshly out of their jobs *(source)*

With Hojs’ resignation a period of internal affairs portfolio being headed by an abrasive, belligerent and uniquely incompetent politician comes to an early end. But while the move was apparently triggered by a police raid chez minister of economy and SMC leader Zdravko Počivalšek over his role in the PPE procurement snafu, the root causes of Hojs getting canned run deeper.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Slovenian parliament is debating a massive legislative package today, aimed at mitigating effects of the covid-19 lock-down is having on the economy and jobs.

But in what is apparently becoming a world-wide trend, the powers that be stuffed in a couple of provisions expanding police surveillance and investigative powers while circumventing judicial oversight. All in the name of curbing the epidemic.