STA, 9 February 2022 - President Borut Pahor will sign on Wednesday a presidential decree calling a scheduled general election for Sunday, 24 April, and address the nation on the occasion. Those wanting to stand for election will have until 24 March - the day when the election campaign officially starts - to submit their candidacies.
April 24 is the first possible date for this year's scheduled general election after the last one, a snap election, was held on 3 June 2018.
Pahor decided on the date after consulting in November deputy groups, which largely agreed with it despite some reservations regarding the epidemiological situation.
Before this, there were mounting calls for an early election due to the government's handling of the epidemic and its perceived undermining of the rule of law.
Although the epidemic will play a role, not all rules governing voting of those who would be isolating or quarantining on the election day have been determined yet.
As Pahor issues the writ of elections, 14 February will be set as the date to which deadlines for various electoral procedures will be pegged.
It is after this date that voters and political parties will be able to submit candidacies.
While this is pretty easy for a party, a group of voters needs to collect at least 1,000 voter signatures to support its list of candidates in an electoral unit.
Parties will also have to open at least 45 days before the election a special bank account from which to pay for election campaign costs.
Voters will be electing 90 MPs for a four-year term - 88 MPs are elected by all voters under proportional representation, and the remaining two by members of the Italian and Hungarian minorities.
A new parliament must meet for its maiden session 20 days after the election at the latest, whereupon procedures to form a new government begin.
This will be the ninth general election in the independent Slovenia after the first was held in 1992. The last three elections - in 2011, 2014 and 2018 - were early polls, which means that this year's will be the first scheduled election after 2008. The first multi-party elections were held already in 1990.
