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Slovenia PM to resign Monday, snap vote in June

Slovenia PM to resign Monday, snap vote in June

Brdo castle (Kranj) (Slovenia) (AFP) - Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said Saturday she has agreed with coalition partners to resign in order to create the conditions for early elections in June.

"We've agreed that it would be best for Slovenia if we could hold early elections as soon as possible, that is why I'll inform on Monday the parliamentary speaker about my resignation," Bratusek told journalists after meeting the heads of the three junior coalition parties.

She said the elections could be held as early as June 22, but added that "that is no longer in the prime minister's hands."

Bratusek announced her resignation last week after losing the leadership of the ruling Positive Slovenija (PS) against Ljubljana's mayor Zoran Jankovic.

The three junior partners -- the Social Democrats (SD) party, the pensioners DESUS party and the Civil List (DL) -- announced they were leaving the coalition after Jankovic re-took the PS leadership from which he had to withdraw last year amid corruption allegations.

Once Bratusek hands in her resignation, the country's president, a parliamentary party or a group of at least 10 MPs have a 30-day deadline to propose a new candidate.

If no candidate is proposed or does not win a majority support in parliament, the president can call early elections.

Bratusek urged all sides to abstain from proposing candidates to form a new government saying early elections in June "would be the best".

"We have fulfilled our promise to safely bring Slovenia to the elections, our state remains sovereign and we've made it without foreign aid," Bratusek told journalists referring to her government's successful recapitalisation of state-owned banks in December.

When the four-party coalition government led by Bratusek took over, Slovenia was considered the EU state that would follow Cyprus in seeking a bailout but the successful recapitalisation of banks restored the confidence of the international markets in the tiny Alpine state.

On Friday ratings agency Fitch was the first to upgrade Slovenia's credit outlook to stable from negative. It did warn the ongoing government crisis could still hamper the eurozone country's structural reform agenda.

Bratusek did not specify whether she would found a new party but announced she would meet with the eleven former PS MPs that back her and decide on further steps.