STA, 19 November 2018 - Boris Popovič, who has had a comfortable tenure in the Koper mayoral office since 2002, will have to put in additional effort to convince the residents of the largest coastal municipality. In a tight race, his main challenger Aleš Bržan, an independent, managed to force a run-off.
After nearly all the votes were counted, Popovič's support stood at 44.5%, whereas Bržan was backed by 30.5% of those who turned out.
After the polls closed, Popovič said he hoped to be elected in the first round. "I believe we did a whole lot. We couldn't have done more. We worked day and night for four years on 12 years of foundation. I believe we deserve to get another four years."
Nevertheless, the mayor was not overly disappointed, because "it was virtually impossible to win in the first round with 13 candidates" running for the office.
Looking ahead, he said that the campaign for the run-off would finally provide the two candidates with the chance to compare their platforms.
"We will do our job ... until the end and let the people decide as they want," he said and added that "even if people are annoyed and think that another candidate can give them more, stimulate better development, why not".
Popovič's popularity appears to be waning, with Bržan gradually eating away at his voter base. In 2014, Popovič cruised to victory in the first round with almost 53% of the vote and Bržan, then backed by the Modern Centre Party (SMC) got 25%.
Bržan told the public broadcaster TV Slovenija that his team had been working hard for this and that they would continue to give it everything so that things would change in Koper.
"It is obvious that something has happened in Koper, and we hope that this will be a turnaround in the way the municipality is run," he told the STA.
Popovič, known for his authoritarian style and disdain for even moderate criticism, has been losing his grip of Koper as voices have started to grow louder about the need for more democracy in running the city.
Antiša Korljan, the editor-in-chief of the Primorske Novice newspaper, says that the apparent second round is the result of votes against Popovič.
Bržan is a reserved, cultivated and deliberate candidate, but this is not necessarily a good thing, he added. "Bržan will have to become a bit more aggressive in his approach, he was lacking that in his communication," Korljan said.
Despite the challenge Koper voters have thrown at Popovič, he managed to retain his power in the city council, where he will have 13 councillors in the 30-member body, the same number as before.
Bržan will have nine councillors; in the previous election he ran with the support of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), which had won seven seats but was relegated from the council this time, winning less than 2% of the vote.
Olive, a local party, and the Left won two seats each, with four more parties and lists having one seat each, including the list of Popovič's former close ally Gašpar Gašpar Mišič, who is now one of his biggest critics.
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