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Campaigners in Slovenia have warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country heads to the polls on Sunday, leaving many bracing for the outcome of a vote that has become, in part, a referendum on how the country treats its most marginalised.
In Sunday’s vote, the prime minister, Robert Golob, of the centre-left Freedom Movement party, faces off against the rightwing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Janša.
Polls suggest Janša’s Slovenian Democratic party has a narrow lead, though neither candidate appears likely to secure a majority in the country’s 90-seat parliament.
In the months leading up to the elections, much of the focus has been on accusations of graft and access to public services, including health care.
Questions of social policy have also threaded through the campaign, with campaigners accusing both Golob and Janša of scapegoating the country’s Romany minority. Golob’s government was accused last year of treating Romany people as a security threat, while Janša, athree-time former prime minister, has claimed they benefit from a double standard when it comes to rights and equality.
“We Roma are facing two evils here in the election,” said Zvonko Golobič, who heads the Association for the Development of the Roma Community in the south-eastern town of Črnomelj. “So the question is: who is less evil?”
Slovenia’s population of about 2.1 million includes an estimated 12,000 Roma. Many are singularly vulnerable: in 2020, Amnesty International said that life expectancy for Roma in Slovenia was 22 years lower than the rest of the population, and infant mortality more than four times higher. Several communities in the country continue to lack access to clean drinking water, electricity and sanitation as well as basic infrastructure and essential services.
The election – and the discourse about Roma that has swirled in previous months – has left many worried that the community’s rights will be further eroded, said Haris Tahirović, the president of an umbrella group representing Romany communities across the country.
“At this moment Roma are really afraid of who will come to power, what the political options will be, and what will happen after the elections,” he said.
In November, the government passed a law that, in the view of campaigners, turned some Romany neighbourhoods into “security zones” by giving police power to enter homes in so-called “high-risk” areas and conduct raids without a warrant.
The “Šutar law” was introduced after the death of Aleš Šutar, who was killed in an altercation linked to members of the Romany community.
While Golob has said the measures are not aimed at “any particular ethnic group but against crime itself”, critics including Amnesty International have said they disproportionately affect the Romany community.
Esther Major, Amnesty’s deputy director for research in Europe, said in a statement last November: “While not explicitly aimed at the Roma population, the vitriolic rhetoric used by the government to justify these measures raises serious fears that they would be deployed arbitrarily and discriminatorily against the Roma population.
“Coupled with the security crackdown, punitive restrictions on social benefits could further penalise the most marginalised families.”
Tahirović said it was little coincidence that Golob introduced the law in the run-up to the election. “He used it to scapegoat Roma because he recognised Roma as the easiest target to attack in order to save his place as prime minister,” he said.
Even so, campaigners said it was likely that Janša – an ally of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, whose previous term in power was marked by attacks on media and migrants – would leave the community worse off. “He would be even more radical,” said Golobič, who is standing as a candidate for the newly formed We, Socialists! party, which is expected to receive about 1% of the vote in the election. “The stakes are high.”
Before Sunday’s election, Janša suggested he would push for harsher sentences for Roma and potentially increase the number of areas designated “high risk”, meaning more Romany settlements could be targeted by security measures.
Janša has also vowed to cut funding for civil society, a move that could hinder the ability of the Romany community to organise and speak up about issues that affect them. Tahirović said: “We’re not asking for anything other than to be an equal part of this society.”
The election contest has heated up in recent weeks, after leaked audio and video recordings purporting to expose government corruption were published on an anonymous website. Golob has denied the claims.
This week an investigation alleged that Janša met individuals in December linked to the Israeli spy company Black Cube, sparking questions as to whether the agency, best known for working with Harvey Weinstein to allegedly quash reporting on allegations of sexual misconduct, was behind the anonymous website. Janša has denied any wrongdoing.
Commentators have warned that the polarising campaign, pitting the populist Janša against Golob, the centre-left incumbent, has left the country at a crossroads.
Robert Botteri, an editor at the magazine Mladina, told Reuters: “These are … perhaps the most important elections ever in Slovenia because they will decide if Slovenia remains a democratic welfare state or it aligns with illiberal democracies.”
