(AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s prime minister said Wednesday he is resigning after the country’s top court annulled last year’s referendum on a key railway project and ordered a new vote. Miro Cerar said that he has sent his resignation to parliament and will formally notify the president on Thursday. The move means that Slovenia's parliamentary elections — which were due in early June — would be held a few weeks earlier. "This was the straw that broke the camel's back," Cerar said in his resignation note to parliament. Slovenia’s Supreme Court ruled earlier Wednesday that government backing for the railway project during the referendum campaign was one-sided and could have affected the outcome of the vote. Earlier Wednesday the constitutional court invalidated the result of a referendum which approved a flagship government infrastructure project, the upgrading of transport links to Koper port on the Adriatic coast. The vote was initiated by independent campaigner Vili Kovacic, who also took the issue to Slovenia’s top courts. Cerar said the rail project is of “strategic importance for the development of Slovenia.” He complained that “some are jeopardizing Slovenia’s development.”

The date for the new referendum wasn’t immediately set.
Miro Cerar announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Slovenia, due to the Supreme Court of Slovenia's annulment of the referendum that approved building a railway between Koper and Divača, a project which he calls "strategic".