Presidential elections were held in Slovenia on 23 October 2022. Incumbent President Borut Pahor was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits.

As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two placing candidates, former foreign minister Anže Logar, an SDS member running as an independent, and independent former Information Commissioner Nataša Pirc Musar, took place on 13 November 2022. Pirc Musar won the runoff with 53.86% of the vote, becoming the first female president of Slovenia.

Logar acknowledged his defeat and congratulated Pirc Musar on her victory.

Important dates Date Election task 20 July 2022 President of the National Assembly announces elections 22 August 2022 Day the electoral tasks start 22 September 2022 Start of the official campaign 28 September 2022 Deadline for submitting candidacies 3 October 2022 Last day for withdrawing from the candidature 21 October 2022 Start of the electoral silence at midnight 23 October 2022 Election day 13 November 2022 Second round

Electoral system The President of Slovenia is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, the top two candidates contest a runoff.

Under Slovenia's election law, candidates for president are required to meet one of three criteria:

The support of ten members of the National Assembly The support of one or more political parties and either three members of the National Assembly or signatures from 3,000 voters Signatures from 5,000 voters

Each political party could support only one candidate.

Candidates Nataša Pirc Musar is a former president of the Slovenian Red Cross, a prominent human rights lawyer and was head of the data protection agency.. She stands for a center-left government and a pro-European Union policy. In view of Russo-Ukrainian War, she believed that Russia broke international law. Pirc Musar ran as an independent, but her campaign was supported by two former presidents, Milan Kučan and Danilo Türk as well as the Pirate party.

Anže Logar was a longtime member of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and a former Foreign Minister. He chose to officially be an independent candidate which was viewed as a distancing himself from the ousted government.

Milan Brglez was a candidate of the Social Democrats (SD) supported by the Freedom Movement, and incumbent prime minister Robert Golob.

Advanced to runoff Candidate name, age,political party Candidate of#Political officesCampaignRegistration dateRef.Anže Logar ()Independent SDS 2 Member of the National Assembly Minister of Foreign Affairs (Campaign • Website) SLSNataša Pirc Musar ()Independent Pirati 5 Information Commissioner President of the Slovenian Red Cross (Campaign • Website) SMS–Z

Did not advance to runoff Candidate name, age,political party Candidate ofNo.Political officesCampaignRegistration dateRef.Milan Brglez ()SD SD 1 Speaker of the National Assembly Member of the European Parliament (Campaign • Website) GSJanez Cigler Kralj ()N.Si N.Si 3 Minister of Labour Member of the National Assembly (Campaign • Website) Miha Kordiš ()Levica Levica 4 Member of the National Assembly (Campaign) Vladimir Prebilič ()Independent Vesna 6 Mayor of Kočevje Professor (defence studies)(Campaign • Website) Sabina Senčar ()Resni.ca Resni.ca 7 None (gynaecologist)(Campaign • Website) ZLS

Opinion polls Graph

First round Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize Undecided Abstain Lead Brglez Logar Cigler Kralj Kordiš Pirc Musar Prebilič SenčarElection results23 October 2022—15.5 34.04.42.8 26.910.65.9—— 7.1 Valicon/RTV Slovenija 18–21 Oct 2022 1,989 12.3 24.8 5.0 5.1 21.4 6.2 7.2 8.6 6.2 3.4 Mediana/POP TV/Delo 17–19 Oct 2022 824 17.3 30.1 6.6 5.4 20.5 10.7 4.0 2.4 0.7 9.6 Parsifal/Nova24TV 10–14 Oct 2022 705 10.7 27.1 4.0 2.9 19.9 3.2 4.8 16.8 5.2 7.2 Ninamedia/Večer/Dnevnik 10–13 Oct 2022 1,000 18.6 31.7 3.6 2.2 19.8 3.1 3.3 – – 11.9 Mediana/Delo/POP TV 3–6 Oct 2022 719 15.3 23.6 4.2 4.9 20.4 4.6 6.0 13.6 1.2 3.2 Valicon/RTV Slovenija 28–30 Sep 2022 1,547 12.1 21.5 3.8 3.7 19.7 4.6 4.2 15.7 8.7 1.8 Ninamedia/Dnevnik/Večer 28–29 Sep 2022 1,000 18.9 28.2 3.3 1.6 23.6 4.6 2.9 16.6 – 4.6 Ninamedia/Mladina 27 Sep 2022 500 18.9 27.3 1.4 1.6 23.3 2.3 1.2 21.7 1.6 4.0

Second round Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize Logar Pirc Musar Logar Brglez Pirc Musar BrglezValicon/RTV Slovenija9–11 Nov 2022186044.056.0––Ninamedia/Dnevnik/Večer7–10 Nov 2022115048.851.2––Mediana/POP TV/Delo7–9 Nov 202271844.651.7––Valicon/RTV Slovenija2–4 Nov 20221,01934.243.5––Ninamedia/Mladina27–29 Oct 202270038.761.3–– Valicon/RTV Slovenija 18–21 Oct 2022 1,989 36.5 42.5 39.0 37.4 36.1 30.2 Mediana/POP TV/Delo 17–19 Oct 2022 824 42.4 44.4 45.2 43.7 34.4 38.3 Parsifal/Nova24TV 10–14 Oct 2022 705 49.2 45.1 50.2 40.5 – Ninamedia/Večer/Dnevnik 10–13 Oct 2022 1,000 39.6 37.3 41.3 33.6 – Valicon/RTV Slovenija 29–30 Sep 2022 1,547 33.9 40.7 37.0 32.0 33.7 29.4 Ninamedia/Dnevnik/Večer 28–29 Sep 2022 1,000 40.8 41.6 41.7 44.4 37.0 33.7

Results In the first round Anže Logar received 34% of the voter share against 27% for Nataša Pirc Musar. Milan Brglez was third with around 15%. For the second round Golob then turned his support to Pirc Musar.

In the run-off, independent Pirc Musar was expected to win since August 2022. Logar also ran as an independent, but was a member of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), which lost parliamentary elections six months prior. Logar was therefore associated with Janša, who was accused with attempting to restrict the freedom of expression and undermine the independence of the judiciary during his term in office.

In the evening of 13 November 2022, the electoral commission reported that Pirc Musar won with nearly 54% of the vote, after which Logar conceded defeat and congratulated Pirc Musar on her victory. Pirc Musar will become Slovenia's first female president, commander-in-chief of the Slovenian Army and also be responsible for appointing the head of the Central Bank of Slovenia.

Notes

References