In early March, Deutsche Bank wrote that "the Liberal world order is in jeopardy" as a result of a global populist uprising to a level not seen since World War II, with DB strategist Jim Reid adding that "it's hard to get away from the fact that populism is currently going through an explosion in support at present." The unprecedented ascent of populism across Europe, where the ECB is rapidly losing the war against anti-globalist forces which made its creation possible, is shown in the chart below: it reveals that whereas in 2000 only 8.5% of the European vote went to populist states, in 2017 that number rose to 24.1%...
... tied with the highest print on record, achieved just before the start of World War II.
Well, as of 2018 we can make it well above 25%, because as of Sunday afternoon, Slovenia's anti-immigrant, populist party, Janez Jansa's SDS-EPP, has won the election with 28% of the vote, according to exit polls which were made available after voting ended at 5pm GMT. The preliminary result is due by 9pm.
Slovenia, 7.29% counted:
SDS-EPP Ahead with 27.69% equaling 30 seats#Volitve2018 pic.twitter.com/umAPPFnTge
In the hugely fragmented vote, the Adriatic country's 1.7 million-strong electorate was set to choose between 25 parties, with final opinion polls putting the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) first on up to 24.5%. And, according to partial results late on Sunday, that estimate may have been low, with the party taking roughly 28% of the vote.
The problem in Slovenia, which now may face a period of government turbulence, is that most other parties have said they are reluctant to join a coalition with the SDS, whose leader Janez 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," Jansa told reporters after voting in Sentilj pri Velenju. Jansa has already served twice as prime minister - from 2004 until 2008 and again from 2012 to 2013. However, he has been hampered by corruption accusations, even serving time in prison in 2014 on graft charges related to Slovenia's largest-ever corruption scandal, although the country's Constitutional Court overturned the conviction in April 2015.
As Reuters points out, 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.
While the final vote details are still pending, 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, the Telegraph notes. But so...