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Slovenia’s 2022 parliamentary elections: ODIHR election assessment mission final report

5 December 2022
(OSCE)

The April 2022 parliamentary elections in Slovenia were competitive and pluralistic. Contestants campaigned freely, and voters had a wide variety of choices across the political spectrum. During the election campaign, the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association were respected. However, interference in the work of public broadcasters and the continuous targeting of journalists by politicians negatively affected freedom of expression. Most of ODIHR’s conversation partners expressed full confidence in the integrity of election administration.

These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on Slovenia’s 2022 parliamentary elections, published today by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The report offers 12 recommendations to bring elections in Slovenia closer in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections.

Key recommendations include:

  • Introducing adequate safeguards in the legislation and practice to protect the public media from political pressure and guarantee editorial independence, financial sustainability and the appointment of a professional, non-politicized management and oversight bodies of public broadcasters.
  • Swiftly investigating threats, including online, against journalists, and refraining from the use of derogatory or inflammatory rhetoric against the media.
  • Repealing criminal provisions for defamation, slander and insult in favour of proportional civil remedies, and putting measures in place to protect media from strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
  • Enhancing the transparency and integrity of campaign finance by requiring disclosure of campaign contributions received and campaign expenditures incurred by contestants and third parties prior to official campaign period.

ODIHR deployed an Election Assessment Mission on 12 April 2022 to observe the parliamentary elections.

All 57 participating States across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.