The broad alliance of the “left-wing privatisers,” as presidential candidate Nina Krajnik would probably call them, began to crumble less than three months after the parliamentary elections. The rift we are referring to happened between Martina Kos, who wants to present herself to the Slovenian public as a politically neutral candidate, and Milan Kučan, the last President of the Communist Party of Slovenia. The latter recently withheld the blessing of the deep state from her, and from her reaction to this, it was obvious that she was quite offended.
Milan Kučan said in a recent public appearance that it would be unacceptable for the offices of the President of the Republic, Speaker of the National Assembly, and Prime Minister to be held by people from the same political party. “This is questionable from the point of view of the principle of separation of powers. This is what would stop me if I had to take a position on the candidacy of Marta Kos,” he said. Kučan thus withheld his support for Kos, which caused her to react in an offended manner.
Responding to the concerns about systemic instability, Kos said: “There is no rule written anywhere that says that a candidate for the President of the Republic of Slovenia should not belong to a party. From the point of view of the separation of powers, it is crucial that all actors respect the separation of powers and strictly respect the existing boundaries. However, this is a matter of personal ethics and political responsibility, not of belonging to a certain political option.”
“It is somewhat undemocratic” Kos showed that Kučan’s words really stung by saying the following: “Is it not somewhat undemocratic to take away the people’s right to democratically choose their candidate, by ruling her out of the game in advance, as systemically ‘unacceptable’? What if this is about changing the system – for the better?”
Marta Kos’s response is pathetic. Namely, the presidential candidate managed to instantly dismiss her party affiliation, compare herself to the late Janez Drnovšek, accuse Milan Kučan of being undemocratic (well, at least this is a perfectly valid point), and, on top of all that, come off as pathetic, all in one statement – with the excuse that her party affiliation will have no influence on her performance as President of the Republic. Because she believes in her ability to restrain herself.
Just yesterday, they were great allies Kos’s response came after her comical reaction to the Prime Minister’s words, which circulated online. Namely, Golob defended Kos’s candidacy against Kučan, saying that while he respects him, he also makes mistakes.
Where does Marta Kos’s loyalty lie? Marta Kos also wrote: “I am running as the vice-president of the party, which I became a week before the elections when Dr Golob asked me to ‘jump in’ due to his absence after contracting covid. And now, all of a sudden, I am ‘systemically unacceptable’ – even though I have always expressed my critical views as a non-partisan, independent citizen.” In one sentence, the presidential candidate has thus demoted herself to the category of a politician of the calibre of Emilija Stojmenova Duh, who sold her party affiliation practically overnight, in order to get a ministerial post. But the truth is that Marta Kos should not be judged by her party affiliation. She is the sister of the infamous deep state operative Drago Kos, who has been known to the Slovenian public since the “Depala vas” affair, and these days, he is better known as the husband of the editor of the news programme 24UR.
What was Kučan actually trying to say? What is important to understand in this whole exchange is this: Kučan does not care about the ‘systemic unacceptability’ of Marta Kos. He is a communist who has not renounced his convictions and who was not at all bothered by the fact that in Slovenia, for many years before independence, all the important positions in society were held by actors from one political party. The real reason for his decision is simply the fact that he wants to limit the foreign policy power of the otherwise naïve Prime Minister, Robert Golob. And that is precisely why he, along with another former President of the Republic, Danilo Türk, granted this power to Nataša Pirc Musar.
Andrej Žitnik
