BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia (Reuters) – Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek lost the leadership of her centre-left Positive Slovenia (PS) party to a challenger unwanted by her coalition partners today, a move that is likely to bring down her government and trigger an early election.
A party congress chose Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic as the new PS leader, the party said on Twitter. All three coalition partners have said they would not cooperate with a party led by Jankovic, who is under investigation for corruption and has denied all allegations.
“I can no longer be the prime minister if I do not have support within my own party,” Bratusek told the congress before the vote.
Slovenia managed to avoid an international bailout in December by pumping 3.3 billion euros of its own funds into its troubled banks.
