Vladimir Prebilič | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

When You’re In A Campaign Hole…

With three weeks left in this campaign, the race in Slovenian parliamentary election is tightening. And this being Muddy Hollows and whatnot, of course (some) parties chose the stupidest of hills to die on.

Seats in Slovenian parliament. The prize in every election and the focus of any campaign. — *Seats in Slovenian parliament. The prize in every election*

The hill in question being the digital presence of influencer Aleksandar Repić. Like, fucking everything is in play and yet the right wing picked a influencer-pimp as their cause célèbre. You literally cannot make this shit up.

The Restaurant at the End of the (Left-Liberal) Universe

The history of every major political party in Muddy Hollows tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we run the government?’ the second by the question ‘Why do we run the government?’ and the third by the question ‘Where shall we have lunch‘?

Robert Golob hosted leaders of left-liberal parties at a posh restaurant in Ljubljana. Everyone came and agreed to play nice. — *PM Golob welcoming playing host at an admittedly posh restaurant (source)*

With apologies to Douglas Adams, there simply is no better way to describe today’s huddle of the six parties comprising the left-liberal half of the Slovenian political spectrum. To an untrained eye, the lunch date may have seemed like an overture to tighter political collaboration or even semi-unification. In reality, these guys went to lunch because they were hungry.

Vladimir Prebilič, Talk Dirty To Me

Vladimir Prebilič made a bit of a poo-poo yesterday in the European parliament. Addressing the recent tragedy in Novi Sad, where a collapsed canopy killed fifteen people and the role that Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić and his cronies played in this, he began his speech in Serbian.

Vladimir Prebilič during his ill-fated address. — *Vladimir Prebilič speaking in the European Parliament (source)*

This sent the more nationalistic elements in Slovenia, Croatia and even Serbia flying off the hook. It also showed Prebilič to be a political nincompoop, whose grandstanding came to a screeching halt on a point of order.

Pirc Musar Holds Off Brglez, Is Now Up Against Logar

Anže Logar and Nataša Pirc Musar advanced to the second round of the Muddy Hollows presidential election. The SDS-backed candidate came out on top with about 34 percent of the vote in yesterday’s first round of voting. But it was the race for second place everyone was watching. Milan Brglez was within theoretical striking distance of Nataša Pirc Musar right up until the last days of the campaign.

Anže Logar and Nataša Pirc Musar, shaking hands after Round One of the Slovenian presidential election. They will face off in Round Two. — *Anže Logar and Nataša Pirc Musar will face off in Round Two (source: STA YouTube)*

In the end, however, it wasn’t even close. Pirc Musar won 27 percent while Brglez got just north of 15 percent. It was a short post-campaign party for the SD and Gibanje Svoboda candidate. What follows now is a Slovenian version of political kabuki theatre where everyone expects and works toward a foregone conclusion but where things can still go horribly wrong.

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.