At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Slovenia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Milan KUCAN
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Janez DRNOVSEK
• Assembly: Slovenia has a bicameral Parliament (Parlament Slovenije) consisting of the National Council (Drzavni Svet) with 40 seats and the National Assembly (Drzavni Zbor) with 90 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the National Council (Drzavni Svet) 40 members are elected by an electoral college to serve 4-year terms*. In the National Assembly (Drzavni Zbor), 88 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 2 members are elected through a Borda Count system to serve 4-year terms.**

* This is a mainly advisory body based on corporatist principles with limited legislative powers. It may propose laws, ask to review any National Assembly decisions, and call national referenda. 4 members represent business ownership associations, 4 represent trade unions, 2 represent farmers, 1 represents crafts and trades, 1 represents "independent professions," and 6 represent "non-commercial" interests. These include 1 representative each from the following fields: university students, teaching, professional research, culture/sport, health care, and social work. Finally, electoral colleges in each of 22 local constituencies elect members representing their respective constituencies. These electoral colleges include 1 member per municipality and 1 more member per additional 5,000 residents. Choice of electoral rules is reserved to the electoral colleges.

** In the PR tier, there are 8 multi-member constituencies of 11 seats each. Voters have the option to cast preference votes. There is a nationwide threshold of 4 percent. In addition, the two constituencies in which the Borda system is used are nationwide and reserved to Hungarian and Italian minorities, respectively.

Main Candidates in the First Round of the Presidential race:

• Janez DRNOVŠEK*
  • Party: Liberal Democratic Party (LDS)
• *Barbara BREZIGAR*
  • Party: (SDS) and New Slovenia Party (Nsi)
• Zmago Jelinčič PLEMENITI
  • Party: Slovenia Nationalist Party (SNS)
• France ARHAR
  • Party: Independent candidate
• Franc BUCAR
  • Party: Independent candidate
• Lev KREFT
  • Party: (ZLSD) / United List of Social Democrats
• Anton BEBLER
  • Party: Independent (but is backed by the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia)
• Gorazd DREVENSEK
  • Party: New Party
• Jure CEKUTA
  • Party: Independent candidate

* DRNOVŠEK & BREZIGAR advanced to the second round on December 1st.

Last Presidential election:

• The last presidential election in Slovenia was on November 24, 1997. KUCAN received 56% of the vote.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 1,994,530 (2002)
• Registered Voters: 1,606,614 (2002)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,021,223 (2002)

·         Is Slovenia a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Slovenia ratified CEDAW: Yes, succession (6 July 1992)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 12 (following the 2000 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 25  (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Slovenia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Slovenia ratified CRPD: Yes (24 April 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 299,179 (est.)