Modern Centre Party (SMC) members elected unanimously Zdravko Počivalšek new leader at a congress in Ljubljana on Saturday. Počivalšek, the economy minister, is taking over from Miro Cerar, the SMC founder who currently serves as foreign minister.
More than 400 participants, including 210 SMC delegates, gathered at the congress. Before the election, Cerar once again backed Počivalšek, the only candidate for the SMC top position. In his keynote address before the election, Počivalšek highlighted the importance of being committed to social dialogue, saying that “concern for development is the responsibility of parties, industry and trade unions”. He called for economic stability, a fair welfare state, liberal approach and sustainability, urging the party to go “neither left, nor right, not backwards, only forward”.
Commenting on the fact that the party has been having low support for a while, he said that current opinion polling is not to be trusted completely. Remaining optimistic, he said the party should not feel dismayed by its past election results since they still trumped opinion poll figures. According to him, the party’s core is strong, consisting of its members, innovative ideas, breakthrough visions, useful know-how and ambitious targets – everything that is needed “to improve the party’s opinion poll indicators”. Moreover, at the congress, Cerar was elected honorary leader of the party at Počivalšek’s initiative and accepted this honour upon stepping down.