STA, 14 February 2019 - Darij Krajčič from the ruling Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) has resigned as MP after he recounted in parliament how he had shoplifted a sandwich.
A newcomer to politics, Krajčič, 54, said on Tuesday he had left parliament to get a sandwich, waiting several minutes while three shop assistants were talking without paying any attention to him.
This promoted him to "check their system of control if you take something from the shop", he said during a session of the Agriculture Committee.
"I walked out and nobody came after me, nobody yelled. Which also means that where everything is under video surveillance ... now and then they overlook something."
Krajčič also said this was the first time had done such a thing. His story was met with laughter by fellow MPs.
Addressing the press on Thursday, LMŠ deputy faction leader Brane Golubović said Krajčič's act was "inadmissible, so he took responsibility for it and resigned of his own accord".
Golobović said Krajčič, whom he labelled an expert and a good person, had regretted the incident and apologised for it.
"If we want to follow the LMŠ's values and principles, then responsibility for this act must be taken. So he assumed it and stepped down of his own accord."
Krajčič did not attend today's news conference, but in a statement for POP TV earlier today he regretted the incident, which he said was not a theft but a social experiment.
He apparently also paid for the sandwich later on.
Krajčič, who holds a PhD in forestry, was elected to parliament in last year's election in the town of Mozirje in the Celje electoral unit, tendered in his resignation yesterday.
In the National Assembly he has chaired the EU Affairs Committee and has been a member of the infrastructure and agriculture committees.
At the time of election, he was a research fellow at the Slovenian Forestry Institute.
He has also taught at the University of Ljubljana and served as a director general at the Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry.
The MP could be replaced in the 90-strong National Assembly, where LMŠ has 13 deputies, by Nik Prebil, a 27-year-old MA student.
