Slovenia’s governing liberals face right-wing populists in a tight parliamentary election

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) - Voters in Slovenia cast ballots Sunday in a highly contested parliamentary election that will decide whether the small European Union nation stays on its liberal course or sways toward the right.

The race is expected to be tight and follows a campaign rocked by allegations of foreign interference that stunned the traditionally moderate EU country.

The vote comes down to two main players: Prime Minister Robert Golob's center-left Freedom Movement and the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, or SDS, led by three-time premier Janez Jansa, a populist-style politician and an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Who wins will resonate wider in the 27-member EU bloc.

Golob's government has been a strong liberal voice in the EU while a victory of Jansa - also a close ally of nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - would strengthen Europe's surging populist groups.

Slovenia's top two parties have been running neck and neck in recent polls and analysts predict that no party will have a clear majority in the 90-member parliament, which would turn smaller parties into kingmakers.

The outcome "is completely uncertain, which is nothing unusual for Slovenia as the electorate has always been polarized," Slovenian sociologist Samo Uhan told The Associated Press.

Upon voting on Sunday, Golob warned that "democracy and sovereignty" of Slovenia can no longer be taken for granted. He urged voters to "not let others to decide instead of you, go out and vote."

Jansa said the election amounted to a "referendum on whether the people can take back the state."

Slovenia has 1.7 million eligible voters.

The vote came after an election campaign marred by claims, first made by a group of activists and journalists, that a string of secret video recordings showing alleged government-tied corruption, aimed to sway the voters.

Authorities have opened a probe into the allegations that Jansa's party and a private, foreign agency were linked to the recordings. Jansa has acknowledged having contacts with a Black Cube agency adviser but denied the allegations of election interference.

Black Cube didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company, run by two former Israeli intelligence agents, has been involved in a number of controversies over the years, including an undercover operation on behalf of the film mogul Harvey Weinstein to discredit his accusers. It has said that all of its activities are legal and ethical.

Jansa, 67, a veteran politician and a former dissident during communism, has faced accusations of clamping down on media freedoms and undermining the rule of law in Slovenia during his latest term in office in 2020-22, which he has denied.

A former energy company manager, 59-year-old Golob and his party were seen in 2022 as a new hope for disillusioned voters. The government, however, has since been shaken by a series of reshuffles, problems with health care reform and frequent changes in tax policy that reflected an air of inconsistency.

Internationally, Golob's government has taken a strongly pro-Palestinian stance, recognizing a Palestinian state in 2024 and banning top Israeli officials from entry. Jansa, on the other hand, is pro-Israel and has strongly criticized Palestinian recognition.

Slovenia routinely has switched between the two blocks since it broke away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The Alpine nation of 2 million people became a member of NATO and the EU in 2004.