Fwd: AIM: Minorities Resurface in Slovenian Elections
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Subject: Fwd: AIM: Minorities Resurface in Slovenian Elections
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Fwd: AIM: Minorities Resurface in Slovenian Elections
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*** Elections in Slovenia
** The Forgotten Strike Again
The reappearance of the representatives of the "nations and
nationalities" of former Yugoslavia on the candidate lists of some
Slovenian parties is an irrefutable proof that, after ten years, it is
still impossible for Slovenia to entirely ignore a portion of its
population the existence of which has for long been passed over in
silence in the newly founded country.
AIM Ljubljana, October 12, 2000
The proclamation of the list of candidates for the forthcoming general
parliamentary elections in Slovenia scheduled for October 15, has
shown that many of the parties are targeting electoral groups
originating from the south of the river Kupa either by birth or by
descent, i.e. coming from the parts of the once common homeland, ex-
SFR Yugoslavia. And, their numbers are not small, although official
statistics has ceased to show relevant figures since they pertain to
the officially unrecognized minorities. It is a known fact that in the
course of the vigorous development and boom of the Slovenian economy
in the socialist era, many citizens from underdeveloped regions of
former Yugoslavia came to Slovenia, the most advanced of the
republics, seeking a better life for themselves.
A big portion of manual labour came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a
somewhat smaller one from Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, with
Montenegrins representing a negligible portion of the "imported"
workforce. Leading to the disintegration of former Yugoslavia, a
notable number of Albanians from Kosovo reached Slovenia as well. It
is estimated that more than 200 000 citizens originating from newly
established countries once constituting Yugoslavia presently live in
Slovenia.
At least another 100 000 citizens of voting-age, direct descendants of
migrant-workers, should be added to the above mentioned figure. At the
outset of the nineties, with the spreading of the war in Croatia and
Bosnia, many of the "aliens" transferred members of their larger
families to Slovenia too. Most of these newcomers were granted
Slovenian citizenship, since the original laws governing the matter
(1991 and 1992) were liberal and in a spirit of European standards of
human rights. It is no secret: particular (industrial) regions of
Slovenia are densely populated by the "Southerners", as the vulgar,
rightist term goes. Aside from Ljubljana, this applies to Jesenice,
Velenje, Kocevje...
During Tito's Yugoslavia and prior to the disintegration of the
country, many of them were ardent � aggressive, for that matter -
defenders of the Yugoslav cause contrary to the prevalent mood of the
Slovenians. The so called migrants found a place for themselves in the
former League of Slovenian Communists, (SKS) mainly because the larger
part of other political groups and parties of the time were either too
nationalistic or too blind to see this particular section of the
population as a relevant political partner. Prior to the proclamation
of Slovenia's independence, the said category of Slovenians was
politically pushed aside because of the radical standpoint it took
within the SKS. This is particularly true of the blue-collar labour
force of B&H Moslem provenience.
The decomposition of the country and ensuing wars played their part;
once a homogenous political group, the "alien" workforce split into a
number of smaller organizations reestablished on the national
principle. On the whole, the Croats lost their jobs and returned to
Croatia; those of them left behind have by now melted into the
majority and generally vote for the rightist-center. There were
attempts to form a branch-office of the Croat Democratic Community
(HDZ) in Slovenia, but the - let's say cold - reception of these
ideas, was the result of the firm stand of Drnovsek's administration
towards Tudjman and his mode of governing in general. As far as the
Serbs are concerned, at the time they enjoyed a relatively agreeable
position in Slovenia because their social matrix was largely made up
of university educated professionals occupying top positions in
Slovenian economy, as opposed to the manual labourers who
predominately chose to return to the homeland - be it Republika Srpska
(RS) or the Republic of Srpska Krajina (RSK).
In past years, the Serbs living in Slovenia could not dream of forming
political associations. This became more than obvious last year when
demonstrations against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia were staged in
Ljubljana, Slovenia being among the last of the European countries,
including the NATO ones, to organize them. On the other hand, they
certainly lasted less and were kept under tighter police control than
anywhere else, police dogs and cavalry included. The Moslems for their
part, while constituting the toughest stronghold of Yugoslavianism and
communism in Slovenia, were greatly disappointed both with Yugoslavia
and the League of Communists. At the same time, they discovered the
Moslem idea as a means for political action. This was favored by the
overall political climate in Slovenia, with the Bosnians being viewed
as the victims of the war in BAH, as well as the inflow of a number of
refugees. Up to now, none of the Slovenian political parties showed
any interest in the votes of this section of the electorate. Good
political relations between Ljubljana and the Bosnian entity in B&H
and the interest of the Slovenian economy for expansion on the B&H
market, have favored the organizing of the citizens of Bosnian descent
into the Democratic Action Party of Slovenia (SDAS).
An exceptionally active Albanian interest-group in Slovenia is
promoting political views relative not to the Slovenian political
scene, but to Yugoslavia and Kosovo nd Macedonia. Formally speaking,
they have the status of a cultural club (Midjeni) and have been
extremely active at the time of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Local
parties have finally realized the potential power (and percentages
required for entering the Parliament) the non-Slovenian voters
represent. During the previous elections, a number of these votes went
to the United List of Social-Democrats (ZLSD), which is a new name for
the party of reformed communists. It is perfectly clear why that
portion of the electorate decided on ZLSD, in spite of the fact that
the party itself did nothing to attract them - in the newly founded
country, social insecurity rose to a certain extent and the workers
hoped their former party comrades would protect them in their struggle
for survival.
Analysis of the election posters shows that the "brand new" citizens
of Slovenia are politically rather heterogeneous. Judging by the 1001
names of the candidates for Parliament, Slovenian parties are inclined
to take their votes, but not to recruit parliament members from their
ranks. With the exception of Jelincic's Slovenian National Party
(SNS), nearly none of the other parties nominated a candidate coming
from any of the former Yugoslav republics. The leading political
parties on the local scene � Janez Drnovsek's Liberal Democracy of
Slovenia (LDS), Janez Jansa's Social-Democrats and Franc Zagozen's
Slovene People�s Party (SLS) � have not, at least judging by their
surnames, nominated a single candidate with family ties extending to
the "Balkans". As far as Jansa is concerned, that was to be expected,
since at the time he occupied the post of the Secretary of Defense,
the first to be subjected to purges within the Slovenian army were
officers coming from other parts of former Yugoslavia, inspite of the
fact that they left the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and joined
Slovenia's Territorial Defense (TO) ranks in time.
Hence, the broad and expensive political campaign LDS launched a few
years back under the slogan "Different but equal" is truly surprising.
The newly united SLS does not reckon on the ballots of the
"Southerners", as their principal electoral base - well-to-do
farmers, wealthy craftsmen and small entrepreneurs - is somewhat
chauvinistically disposed towards the given category of Slovenian
citizens. Curiously enough, although it has done nothing for the
mentioned portion of the Slovenian electorate, ZLSD somehow reckons
that these votes are coming its way by tradition. ZLSD is, that much
is certain, in for a big surprise.
But, by far the most intriguing is the phenomenon of Zmago Jelincic.
During the 1992 elections, he entered the Slovenian Parliament
accompanied by 12 of his followers, primarily owing to a vigorous and
offensive campaign aimed against everyone and everything originating
from the south of former Yugoslavia. Eight years have gone by, and now
Zmago is not what he used to be. Out of the fourteen non-Slovenian
candidates his party has nominated for the Parliament - as many as
twelve are of Serbian descent! Moreover, during the NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia last year, Zmago was the only Slovenian politician to
condemn it. Likewise, he is presently the sole defender and promoter
of the Serbian "cause" in Slovenia. Whatever caused such a change of
mind? Is it a result of an incorruptible inner belief or, maybe,
merely a calculation having to do with possible votes? The latter,
more likely. Jansa has overtaken the votes of the nationalists and the
slum proletariat long ago and the farmers have turned to the Right.
So, Zmago has rightly concluded that Serbian votes might give him a
chance to hustle himself into the Parliament once again.
A number of the newly formed parties have followed Zmago's logic and
included citizens from other regions of former Yugoslavia to their
candidate lists. The Communist Party of Slovenia, for example, has put
forward as many as four "brand-new" Slovenian citizens out of 18
possible nominees: two Bosnians and two Serbs. The truly new in spirit
of the recently formed parties - the Slovenian Youth Party - has, out
of the 62 available, placed 20 candidates originating from former
Yugoslavian republics on their list. Most of them are young people,
born and educated in Slovenia, university students or professionals
with university degrees. Many of them are prominent figures in the
cultural life of their communities, local sports and
civil-organizations. Most of them have a need to find a place for
themselves in their immediate social environment, often biased to
people with the ill-famed "ic"-ending to their surnames.
An all together separate phenomenon of the Slovenian elections is the
local Party of Democratic Action (SDA) party. Although claiming not to
have anything to do with Alija Izetbegovic's SDA in B&H, the party has
never tried to conceal whose votes it counts on primarily - the ones
coming from a particular section of the Slovenian electorate - the
Bosnians. Of the 31 candidates the party has nominated, 30 of them
are, at least judging by their first names, Bosnians. One is an
Albanian. The Slovenian SDA has nominated candidates of Bosnian
descent only in regions predominantly inhabited by non-Slovenians.
Although their concentration is rather high in Ljubljana and the
adjourning municipalities, SDA abstained from elections in these
regions. The same holds true for Koruska (Ravne, Mezica) and the
Savinja valley flow (cities of Velenje and Celje) where, in spite of
the high concentration of Bosnians, the SDA of Slovenia abstained from
taking part in the forthcoming elections. By comparing its list of
candidates with the electoral units they are delegated from, it's
obvious that the Slovenian SDA is aspiring to become a purely
nationalistic party, a somewhat unacceptable precedent as far as the
rather moderate Slovenian political scene is concerned. The possible
victory of the Slovenian counter-part of SDA and its entrance into the
National Parliament would represent a challenge for certain other
national groups living in Slovenia.
In that respect, it would not be surprising if the Slovenian political
scene witnesses the appearance of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDP)
of Slovenia, the corresponding Serbian Radical Party (SRS) or, for
that matter, the Democratic Union of Albanians of Slovenia.
# Milan Gorjanac
(AIM Ljubljana)
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