Slovenian PM resigns after court overrules referendum on a project
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar on Wednesday tendered his resignation after a court annulled the result of a government referendum. "The forces of the past do not allow us to work for future generations," said Cerar. Yesterday, the 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.
Court found government had not acted with due impartiality
The referendum, held earlier in September 2017, had resulted in a vote in favor of the building of a new railway line to service the town, Slovenia's only major commercial port. The constitutional court found that the government had not acted with due impartiality as it spent public money to back a yes vote for the scheme.
Ruling comes ahead of parliamentary elections in June
The ruling came amid a backdrop of a wave of public sector strikes over pay in recent months and ahead of parliamentary elections which are due in June. Cerar said the ruling was "the drop of water which made the vase overflow" for his fractious three-party coalition government. He added that President Borut Pahor will decide whether or not to bring forward the elections.
