on

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal (16 years of age, if employed)

Executive branch:

chief of state: President Danilo TURK (since 22 December 2007)
head of government: Prime Minister Borut PAHOR (since 7 November
2008)
cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and
elected by the National Assembly
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term
(eligible for a second term); election last held 21 October and 11
November 2007 (next to be held in the fall of 2012); following
National Assembly elections, the leader of the majority party or the
leader of a majority coalition is usually nominated to become prime
minister by the president and elected by the National Assembly;
election last held on 9 November 2004 (next National Assembly
elections to be held in October 2008)
election results: Danilo TURK elected president; percent of vote -
Danilo TURK 68.2%, Alojze PETERLE 31.8%; Janez JANSA elected prime
minister by National Assembly vote - 57 to 27 in 2004

Legislative branch:

bicameral Parliament consists of a National Assembly or Drzavni Zbor
(90 seats; 40 members are directly elected and 50 are elected on a
proportional basis; note - the number of directly elected and
proportionally elected seats varies with each election; the
constitution mandates 1 seat each for Slovenia's Hungarian and
Italian minorities; members are elected by popular vote to serve
four-year terms) and the National Council or Drzavni Svet (40 seats;
members indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve
five-year terms; note - this is primarily an advisory body with
limited legislative powers; it may propose laws, ask to review any
National Assembly decision, and call national referenda)
elections: National Assembly - last held 21 September 2008 (next to
be held 8 October 2012)
election results: percent of vote by party - SD 30.5%, SDS 29.3%,
ZARES 9.4%, DeSUS 7.5%, SNS 5.5%, SLS+SMS 5.2%, LDS 5.2%, other
7.4%; seats by party - SD 29, SDS 28, ZARES 9, DeSUS 7, SNS 5,
SLS+SMS 5, LDS 5, Hungarian minority 1, Italian minority 1

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (judges are elected by the National Assembly on the
recommendation of the Judicial Council); Constitutional Court
(judges elected for nine-year terms by the National Assembly and
nominated by the president)

Political parties and leaders:

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia or LDS [Katarina KRESAL]; New Slovenia
or NSi [Andre