On Wednesday, Vladimir Prebilič finally founded his party. Following the old recipe of “new faces,” he did so only a few months before the parliamentary elections, and – once again following the recipe of “new faces” – he filled the party with proven cadres of the transitional left.
The founding congress of the Prerod – Revival party took place in Kočevje, where the members of the party’s bodies and, of course, its President, Vladimir Prebilič, were elected. When the names of those elected were made public, political analyst and political scientist Dr Miro Haček wrote: “It should be noted that the names mentioned, who have joined the new party, are mainly people who are simply moving from one party of new faces to the next. Not very promising.”
Former minister Matej Lahovnik made a similar comment, pointing out that the members mainly come from either already existing or now-dismantled parties, such as the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia party (Liberalna demokracija Slovenije – LDS), the List of Marjan Šarec party (Lista Marjana Šarca – LMŠ), the Social Democrats party (Socialni demokrati – SD), the Modern Centre Party (Stranka modernega centra – SMC), and even from the “extreme Left party” (Levica). So, when Prebilič addresses voters on social media with slogans that his party is neither left nor right, he is mainly targeting poorly informed, even naive voters, which our readers certainly are not. His party is composed almost exclusively of people with a clear pedigree of the transitional left.
Prebilič’s recycling of transitional personnel
Let’s start with the party President himself, Vladimir Prebilič. A former member of the Social Democrats, he ran for the post of Member of the European Parliament in the last European elections on the list of Vesna – the Green Party, but has since left this party in the past, too. Vesna then moved closer to the Left party and is now calling on him to consider returning his European Parliament mandate.
We continue with the party’s Vice-President, Klemen Grošelj, a former MEP and member of the List of Marjan Šarec. He then joined the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) along with Šarec, but left the party because it did not place him in an electable position on the list for the last European elections.
The party council also includes proven members of the transitional left and parties with new faces. The following names were elected: Petra Mrhar Slak, Dušan Vučko, Štefan Čelan, Dragan Matić, Nina Pirnat, Irena Kuntarič Hribar, Mitja Bervar, Boštjan Koražija, Dimitrij Pur, Gregor Novak, Miloš Dular, Barbara Umek, Edis Rujović, Zlatka Keček, Marjetka Slatner Gerjevič.
Below, we are going to highlight some of the most striking examples.
Dušan Vučko is a former MP from the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia – LDS, and most recently, we saw him in the role of the Director of the State Election Commission. Even after retiring, he remained politically active, as Golob’s government appointed him to the board of the Triglav National Park.
Štefan Čelan, the former Mayor of Ptuj, is also a former LDS member.
Dragan Matić is a former member of Miro Cerar‘s party. Cerar, meanwhile, addressed those present at the party’s founding congress. Matić ran for Mayor of Ljubljana under the SMC banner. Some time ago, we received an anonymous letter from a building inspector who accused Matić, the former head of the Inspectorate for the Environment and Spatial Planning, of political retaliation against his former fellow MPs, neighbours, and fellow citizens. Matić denied the accusations.
Nina Pirnat headed the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) during the term of Marjan Šarec‘s government. She is known for her completely incorrect assessment of the Covid-19 virus, which she described as “a slightly worse form of the flu,” and recommended that Slovenians “sneeze into their sleeves” as a protective measure. Pirnat was appointed head of the Institute by the government of Miro Cerar and was considered a prominent member of the Social Democrats. She was also apparently close to Šarec’s LMŠ party, as she participated in one of their round tables during the previous government’s term.
Irena Kuntarič Hribar is a former candidate for the post of Mayor of Ljubljana, who ran under the Social Democrats banner.
Mitja Bervar is a former president of the National Council, formally politically unaffiliated, who comes from a cultural background, but is generally classified on the left side of the political spectrum. We have written about him several times in the past.
It is also interesting that former far-left MP Boštjan Koražija has joined Prebilič’s project. Political analyst Miran Videtič pointed out that Koražija has not publicly distanced himself from his former party, the Left.
Dimitrij Pur also comes from the defunct LDS party. In 1994, he ran under their banner and was elected municipal councillor in Žalec. He was also a member of the LDS Ecological Forum, reports the Slovenian Press Agency – STA. He is still active on the left as a civil servant.
Miloš Dular also comes from the transition circles, as he is a former member of the Social Democrats. According to the latest information, he is currently the state secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The party also includes a whole host of other figures from the left. As already mentioned, Miro Cerar, who also collaborated with Logar’s Platform for Cooperation, addressed those gathered at the founding congress. Not only him, but also Tone Rop, Vesna Vuk Godina, Marijana Kolenko, and Faris Kočan were seen at the gathering.
The former Prime Minister from the LDS party, Tone Rop, also addressed those gathered at the congress.
Vesna Vuk Godina, a professor and left-wing activist, also spoke at the congress. She was one of those who supported the current Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković‘s candidacy for the post of prime minister years ago. Today, she claims that she did not really support him, but only wanted to prevent Janez Janša from coming to power. Before the last parliamentary elections, however, she participated in a round table discussion with the current Prime Minister, Robert Golob.
Teacher Marijana Kolenko, who addressed the gathering, also comes from the Social Democrats party. As a member of the latter, she was elected to the Celje Municipal Council in the last local elections.
According to the news portal MMC, the event was also attended by Janez Poklukar, former Minister of Health in Janša’s third government, and Brane Golubović, former MP from the LMŠ party. He, too, has changed quite a few parties of the transitional left, namely, he went from LDS to Positive Slovenia, to Marjan Šarec’s List, and most recently, he was a member of the Freedom Movement party.
Former LMŠ MP Robert Pavšič and Prebilič’s successor in the municipality of Kočevje, Mayor Gregor Košir, were also spotted at the congress.
Finally, according to MMC, another member of the Social Democrats, Jernej Pikalo, is also said to have collaborated on the drafting of Prebilič’s program. In the past, he also collaborated with Logar’s Platform for Cooperation. However, he was not present at the congress.
A. K.
