Slovenia’s PM steps down, urges EU nation to hold early vote

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Slovenia’s prime minister announced his resignation on Monday and urged the country to hold an early general election.

Prime Minister Marjan Sarec said he’s resigning because of the crumbling support for his minority government in the small European Union nation of 2 million.

Sarec said he will submit his resignation to the country’s parliament. Lawmakers then can try to form a new government, but Sarec said he believed an early election was a better option.

“I cannot fulfil people’s expectations at the moment,” Sarec said, according to the STA news agency. “But I can fulfil them after the elections.”

Finance Minister Andrej Bartoncelj also resigned earlier Monday.

Sarec, a former actor and comedian, became the head of Slovenia’s government in 2018. He gathered a liberal coalition sidelining a right-wing party that won most votes at a parliamentary election in June 2018.

However, Sarec’s five-party coalition has been shaky after a leftist party recently withdrew parliamentary support for the minority government.

Sarec said he wants to go into an early election and “let people decide whether they trust me,” said the STA report.