As forecast Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek took the lead in the first round of the presidential election, however he did not win an absolute majority. The leader of the Liberal Democrat Party of Slovenia (LDS) won 44.36% of the vote. In the second round he will face Barbara Brezigar, former Justice Minister and present Prosecutor of the Republic who is supported by the centre right movements, the Social Democrat Party of Slovenia (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSI), that won 30.75% of the vote.

None of the other seven candidates running in this election managed to win more than 10% of the vote. The Slovenian Nationalist Party's (SNS) candidate, Zmago Jelincic, came third with 8.51% of the vote. He has announced that he will not support Barbara Brezigar in the second round, but without clearly saying that he is in favour of the Prime Minister. Zmago Jelincic is in fact quite opposed to Slovenia's integration into NATO, an option that Janez Drnovsek does support however. France Bucar, the first President of Parliament who has the support of the Young Slovenians' Party (SMS) and two other movements that are not represented in Parliament came fifth with 3.24% of the vote, has announced that he will support Barbara Brezigar in the second round, which should be the same choice as France Arhar former governor of the Central Bank of Slovenia who won 7.6% of the vote.

Although it is highly likely that Janez Drnovsek, will be elected President of the Republic in the second round that is to take place on 1st December Barbara Brezigar can be proud of having accomplished so much in this race for the Presidency. Her score, that was much higher than the opinion polls had predicted, can be explained by the extremely careful electoral campaign she undertook (she was the only one amongst the eight candidates to believe that she would really endanger the Prime Minister as candidate) and her position centre right position on the political arena. She was the only woman to stand for election and who was capable of transcending the anti-communist remarks to become the candidate for all Slovenians. Barbara Brezigar's success also lies in part of the population's weariness after ten years of being governed by the Prime Minister. The former Justice minister is the only candidate not to have been put forward by a political movement; whilst electoral law obliged her to register five thousand signature in order to be a candidate Barbara Brezigar collated seven thousand.

Janez Drnovsek who is clearly assured success in three weeks time, having received the public support of the present President Milan Kucan, has already appointed Anton Rop, present Finance Minister as his successor at the head of government. However he will have to wait for 1st December to find out officially who is to be the next President of the Republic of Slovenia.

Results of the first round of the presidential election on 10th November:

Participation : 71.19%

Source Slovenian Presidency