Janez Jansa, leader of Social Democratic Party (SDS), casts his vote at a polling station during the general election in Velenje, Slovenia, June 3, 2018. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The opposition anti-immigrant center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) was set to win the Slovenian general election on Sunday with 24.4 percent of the votes, according to exit polls by the national TV channel TV Slovenia.

The center-left party of the Mayor of Kamnik Marjan Sarec, LMS, followed with 12.6 percent of the vote. Preliminary results will be issued by the State Election Commission later on Sunday.</s>LJUBLJANA, June 3 (Reuters) - The opposition anti-immigrant centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) was set to win the Slovenian general election on Sunday with 24.4 percent of the votes, according to exit polls by the national TV channel TV Slovenia.

The centre-left party of the Mayor of Kamnik Marjan Sarec, LMS, followed with 12.6 percent of the vote. Preliminary results will be issued by the State Election Commission later on Sunday. (Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by Ivana Sekularac)</s>LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The opposition anti-immigrant centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) was set to win the Slovenian general election on Sunday with 24.4 percent of the votes, according to exit polls by the national TV channel TV Slovenia.

The centre-left party of the Mayor of Kamnik Marjan Sarec, LMS, followed with 12.6 percent of the vote. Preliminary results will be issued by the State Election Commission later on Sunday.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>But the centre-right Slovenia Democratic party of former prime minister Janez Jansa will need to find partners to form a coalition.

Janez Jansa, President of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), said: “The Slovenian Democratic Party is open for cooperation. The time ahead will need cooperation. Our door is open when it comes to dialogue and cooperation as has always been the case when the Slovenian Democratic Party formed the government."

The SDS may struggle as its hardline stance on immigration has left it short of potential coalition partners including second placed LMS.

Marjan Sarec, of the political party, Marjan Sarec's List, said: "I congratulate the winner and wish him luck in assembling the government. However, we will stay true to what we said during the campaign: we will not join any government with the SDS”

The only party that has so far said it will work with the SDS is the centre-right Nova Slovenija, which won 7.1% of the vote.

Analysts say predicting what the future government will look like is hard and some believe another election cannot be ruled out.</s>The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) emerged victorious from Slovenia’s early election on Sunday.

With 99.9 percent of the votes counted, SDS topped the poll on 25 percent, likely giving the anti-immigrant party 25 seats in the parliament. Center-left LMŠ, led by comedian and political satirist Marjan Šarec, came in second on 12.7 percent and 13 seats, and the Social Democrats third on just under 10 percent of the vote, winning 10 seats.

SDS leader Janez Janša acknowledged his party will face an up-hill battle attempting to form a governing coalition.

“We will probably have to wait for some time … before serious talks on a new government will be possible,” he told reporters after voting on Sunday, according to AP.

Sunday’s election came a week earlier than scheduled, after Prime Minister Miro Cerar of the Modern Center Party (SMC) quit due to a referendum defeat on a railway project and worsening relations with his coalition partners. The SMC came in fourth on Sunday, with 9.75 percent of the vote and a likely 10 seats in parliament.

Janša, a liberal dissident under communism and a two-time former prime minister, transformed himself into an anti-immigration conservative, modeling his campaign on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s political playbook.

“[Our] party puts Slovenia, Slovenians first,” Jansa said after preliminary results were released, and pledged to hold talks with any potential coalition partners from other parliamentary parties. “We are open for cooperation, Slovenia is facing times which need cooperation,” he said.

Turnout was 52 percent, on par with the 2014 poll, but lower than in 2011, when it was 66 percent.</s>An anti-immigrant centre-right party has won the most votes in Slovenia's parliamentary election, an exit poll shows.

The right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, led by former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa, emerged as the largest party - but did not win enough to rule the country on its own.

The country's 1.7 million-strong electorate had to choose between 25 parties in the highly-fragmented ballot.

Only nine will make it to parliament, according to the election polls.

The Slovenian Democratic Party received 24.4% of the vote, the exit polls from TV Slovenia revealed.

The anti-establishment List of Marjan Sarec party is the second-placed party with 12.6%, followed by the Modern Centre Party of outgoing prime minister Miro Cerar with 9.8%.

The Left party received 9.5% of the vote, with the Social Democrats close behind with 9.3%.

The results mean that no party has secured a majority in Slovenia's 90-member parliament.

The next step would likely be negotiations to form a coalition government.

Former prime minister Mr Jansa could be denied another term as leader of the country, as other groups have showed reluctance to form an alliance with him.

He previously held office during 2004-2008 and 2012-2013. Before that, he was minister of defence from 1990 to 1994, holding the post during the Slovenian War of Independence.

He is an ally of Hungary's anti-immigration prime minister, Viktor Orban, and a government led by him would shift Slovenia to the right.

It could also add an anti-immigrant voice to the European Union.

The results are an indication of the continuing growth of right-wing populism in central and eastern Europe following a large influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

During the campaign, Mr Jansa evoked memories of the 500,000 migrants who crossed Slovenia in late 2015 and early 2016 - though the majority of them continued on to northern Europe.

Slovenia - the native home of US first lady Melania Trump - joined the EU in 2004 and has used the euro as its official currency since 2007.

It held its election slightly early, after Mr Cerar resigned in March.

He stepped down after Slovenia's supreme court annulled the results of a referendum, in which voters showed support for a €1bn government railway project.</s>Exit polls suggest the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party has won the most votes in a parliamentary election

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Exit polls suggest the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party has won the most votes in a parliamentary election.</s>The opposition anti-immigrant centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) was set to win the Slovenian general election on Sunday with 24.4 percent of the votes, according to exit polls by the national TV channel TV Slovenia. But the party’s leader, Janez Jansa, said forming a government would not be easy, as he cast his ballot in a town in the country’s east.

LMS, the centre-left party of the mayor of Kamnik, Marjan Sarec, followed with 12.6 per cent of the vote.

In a hugely fragmented vote, the Adriatic country’s 1.7 million-strong electorate chose between 25 parties, with final opinion polls putting the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) first on up to 24.5 percent. But most other parties have said they are reluctant to join a coalition with the SDS, and Mr Jansa acknowledged any post-election negotiations would be difficult.

“We will probably have to wait for some time [after the election] before serious talks on a new government will be possible,” Mr Jansa – a two-time prime minister – told reporters after voting in the village of Sentilj, near Velenje. The election was called in March after centre-left prime minister Miro Cerar resigned, weeks before the scheduled end of his term of office, after the Supreme Court ordered a new referendum on a railway investment project championed by his government.

According to a Mediana poll published by daily newspaper Delo on Friday, Mr Cerar’s Party of the Modern Centre was running third with around 6.8 per cent, behind the centre-left List of Marjan Sarec, the mayor of the city of Kamnik, on 8.2 per cent.

The divided nature of the vote means the SDS would need to ally with at least two other parties to gain a majority in the 90-seat parliament. But so far most other parties have demurred at joining forces with the SDS, which has the open support of Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban.

“We believe that today a first step will be made towards Slovenia becoming a country that will put the wellbeing and security of Slovenians first,” Mr Jansa said.

Analysts said the SDS would win, but predicting what the future government might look like was hard, and another election could not be ruled out. “It seems clear that the SDS will win but everything else about this election is unclear because the question is whether the SDS will be able to form a government coalition,” said Meta Roglic, a political analyst with daily Dnevnik.

Otilia Dhand of political risk advisory firm Teneo Intelligence described the election as an open race. “The real winner will be the party that can form a coalition with a majority of seats in a likely highly fragmented parliament,” she said.

Slovenia, which narrowly avoided an international bailout for its banks in 2013, returned to growth in 2014. The outgoing government expects the economy to expand by 5.1 per cent this year versus 5 per cent in 2017, boosted by exports, investments and household spending.

High on the agenda for the next government will be the privatisation of the country’s largest bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, which the previous administration agreed to sell in exchange for European Commission approval of state aid for it in 2013.

The next cabinet will also be expected to reform an inefficient state health sector and Slovenia’s pension system. “I want changes for the better, particularly in the health sector and judiciary. I was quite disappointed with the current government so I will not vote for them,” said Sonja, a 60-year-old retired teacher who voted in Ljubljana. Some other voters praised the outgoing government.

“I expect that things will be at least as good as now or a bit better. I hope we get another centre-left government although I do agree changes are needed, particularly in the health sector,” said 52-year-old pharmacist Vida.</s>LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Exit polls suggest the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party has won the most votes in a parliamentary election.</s>The poll, carried out by the Mediana Institute and published by Slovenia's public broadcaster and a commercial television station, predicts that Janez Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) has won 24.4 percent of the vote.

In comparison to the center-right anti-immigrant SDS party, the center-left party of the Mayor of Kamnik Marjan Sarec, LMS, received roughly half as many votes, garnering 12.6 percent of the vote and Prime Minister Miro Cerar's Modern Center Party (SMC) came third, with 9.8 percent. Preliminary results will be announced later by the State Election Commission.

Projected seats for a selection of coalitions in the National Assembly of Slovenia

The SDS, which has supported Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has firmly objected to migrant quotas and stated that most of the money used to support them should be diverted to the security forces.

Slovenia, which was a part of the former Yugoslavia and is the home country of US First Lady Melania Trump, joined the European Union in 2004.

The country, which barely avoided a bailout for its banks in 2013, has been experiencing economic growth since 2014. The outgoing government expects the economy to expand by 5.1 percent this year.
TV Slovenia exit polls show that Janez Janša's anti-immigration Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) would win a plurality of 24.4% of the votes. List of Marjan Šarec (LMS), the party of the mayor of Kamnik, would follow with 12.6%.