The two left-wing “spitzenkandidates” are apparently so nervous next to the calm and cohesive Anže Logar that they have started going after each other. Nataša Pirc Musar and Milan Brglez got into a fight during the commercial break of the notoriously leftist-friendly 24ur news programme on POP TV.
Nataša Pirc Musar, the notorious lawyer of Ljubljana’s wealthy elite – about whom the surgeon Erik Brecelj even said that she threatened him when he wanted to expose corruption in healthcare – got furious when the deep state candidate Milan Brglez took a swing at her salary during the debate, saying that she was avoiding paying taxes with a fictitiously low lawyer’s salary.
Pirc Musar said to Brglez: “And you talked about my salary. Tell us what your is, publicly.”
Brglez, who is not used to confrontations with his professorial, authoritative attitude, was half in shock, and with a nervous, covertly aggressive smile that the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, usually wears on his face when he hears the word “pharmacist,” he managed to retort: “I mean, come on… I can give you…”
But Pirc Musar continued: “I mean, come on, post it on your page, for God’s sake. I mean, what income tax, publish everything, and publish the info about your wife as well, and then shut up.”
All Brglez could do after that was just smile nervously and hope that he compromised Pirc Musar enough for him to make it to the second round of the presidential elections. It is particularly interesting that the recording was leaked. The question is at whose request – at first glance, the footage seems to be more to Brglez’s liking, as Pirc Musar seems genuinely upset by his insinuations. Why the show 24ur records its guest during the commercial breaks is, of course, a matter of editorial decisions, although it is clear that they have recently repositioned themselves very clearly and changed from the TV List of Marjan Šarec (the previous ruling party) to TV Golob (the current ruling party).
Such outbursts – or, to call them what they are, fights – on the left are, above all, an indication of the great nervousness that prevails on the left. There are fears that the compromised Nataša Pirc Musar will not be able to defeat Anže Logar in the second round, while Milan Brglez would bring together the left electoral core, which also elected the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje svoboda) and the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati), but at the same time the radical leftists from the Left party (Levica), where he himself belongs, ideologically speaking.
Andrej Žitnik
