New party founded before 2026 election in Slovenia
A socialist party has been founded to join several other new parties that have been launched in the run-up to the 2026 general election. Its founder is leftist MP Miha Kordiš, who had a falling-out with his previous party, the Left, nearly a year ago.
Kordiš, 36, was elected leader of his new party We, the Socialists! at its founding congress in Ljubljana, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
According to him, the goal is to work for peace and climate and social justice and to eliminate the capitalist system of exploitation and "transform it into a socialist social order based on solidarity".
With four months left before the next general election, Kordiš is confident they can make it to parliament. If this indeed happens, they will be ready to talk to "anyone who is at least minimally willing to tackle the most acute crises of capitalism".
The party, which was announced several months before its official launch, has so far polled below the 4% threshold required to gain seats in the legislature, getting 1.5-1.8% in some of the polls this year and less than 1% in others.
Party platform focuses on affordability, climate action and opposition to armament
At the congress, the party adopted its manifesto, which calls for a peace-based foreign policy, an end to arms purchases, Slovenia's withdrawal from the war in Ukraine, withdrawal from NATO, and sanctions against Israel.
Kordiš sees climate change as an existential threat to humanity, arguing that "we need global, international, solidarity-based action against the threat of the climate crisis".
The new party would also like to tackle price hikes, see the introduction of at least one public retail chain that would operate on a non-profit basis, and help stop privatisation of healthcare.
A political firebrand, Kordiš said it was also necessary to tax fairly the "real estate barons who hoard flats" and in turn "make those available to working families".
According to him, We, the Socialists! can only be successful if it forms alliances with others, so former Human Rights Ombudsman Matjaž Hanžek, author Svetlana Makarovič and former Health Minister Dušan Keber were invited to the congress, where they delivered addresses. Also attending the event was Jaša Jenull, who spearheaded anti-government protests in 2020-2022 and is now a member of the civil initiative the Voice of the People.
According to Kordiš, over 200 members and supporters of the party gathered at the congress. He said the party had more than 600 members, some of whom had quit the Left to join them.
Kordiš's row with the Left
He founded the new socialist party eight months after he was expelled from the Left. One of the two junior coalition partners accused him of destructiveness and attacks against fellow MPs and government ministers following months of tensions between the two sides.
Announcing the plan to start a new party after he left the deputy group of the Left in April, Kordiš, who used to be the face of the Left's more extreme wing, argued that it would fill a void as no party was currently defending the interests of labour in relation to capital, a belief he has now reiterated.
He was the only MP who voted against the recent pension reform, and his party, still emerging at the time, was one of the organisations campaigning for a referendum to challenge it, but the initiative failed to collect enough voter signatures.
His party is the latest addition to the group of political projects launched in the run-up to the election. To name some of them, there is another MP Anže Logar and his centrist party, the Democrats, seasoned politician Karl Erjavec and his new party Trust, National Council President Marko Lotrič and his business-friendly party Focus, and MEP Vladimir Prebilič and Renaissance, another new party advocating centrist views.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
