An accordion player is a familiar sight in Ljubljana’s historic center. Seated in Preseren Square year-round, dressed in traditional costume with a feathered hat, he plays a handful of folk tunes and sells CDs from a box labeled “Slovenian Music.”
That simple image — the accordion and the traditional repertoire it evokes — has been adopted as a symbol by the main opposition, the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). As parliamentary elections approach on March 22, campaign posters featuring a smiling boy holding an accordion appear across the capital. “Vote SDS, so your grandson will still sing Slovenian songs,” reads one of them.
“As an Alpine country, the accordion is one of the basic instruments which gives us our identity,” said Tone Kajzer, a former diplomat and the SDS foreign policy spokesperson. The message is clear: emphasize national roots. “It’s all about making people aware that we are Slovenians first, then Europeans, and then the people on the globe — focusing back to our roots. Because, you know, the tree without roots will fall very soon,” he told DW.
SDS’s campaign intentionally invokes an idealized past, implying that the years after Slovenia’s 1991 independence were better. By contrast, the governing center-left Freedom Movement (GS) centers its campaign on one word: “Forward.” Matej Grah, the party’s secretary general, frames the choice as two visions: look forward and work for the future, or turn back to history.
Voters will see as many as 18 candidate lists on their ballots, with smaller parties likely playing a role in forming any post-election coalition. But the main contest is between two figures: Prime Minister Robert Golob of the Freedom Movement and Janez Jansa, SDS leader and a three-time former prime minister.
Grah describes the race as one for Slovenia’s soul: not only about public services, jobs or economic growth, but about sovereignty, the rule of law and preserving an island of liberal, open values and a strong social state in the heart of Europe.
The Freedom Movement has broken a recent pattern on the center-left, where voters repeatedly favored new parties and faces. Golob burst onto the scene ahead of the 2022 election and his party won a record number of parliamentary seats. Unlike previous center-left groups, the Freedom Movement has completed a full four-year term in office — and there is no newer figure on the center-left to displace Golob this time.
Still, support has cooled since 2022. Igor Bergant, a well-known presenter at national broadcaster RTV Slovenija, says Golob may have overpromised and under-delivered. “The attention span in Slovenia is quite limited, so people get annoyed with politicians quite quickly,” Bergant told DW. Golob had argued he needed two mandates — eight years — to carry out needed reforms. After a single term, critics say not enough has been achieved and some voters are frustrated.
The government points to progress in healthcare, housing and pensions as proof of a record worth continuing. Yet many parties highlight the strained health service as the dominant issue, suggesting many voters do not yet feel meaningful change.
The run-up to the vote has also been marked by controversy. Covert recordings released in recent days suggest corrupt practices involving leading center-left figures. Golob has accused Jansa of working with a private Israeli intelligence firm and of undermining Slovenia’s democracy by collaborating with a foreign power. The SDS has responded by alleging the country has been “captured by systemic corruption.” How those allegations affect voters will be decided at the ballot box.
By Monday it should be clear whether Slovenians prefer the nostalgia and national emphasis of Jansa and the SDS or the reformist, progressive outlook of Golob and the Freedom Movement.
Approximately 1.6 million people are eligible to vote in the parliamentary election.
Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan