Slovenians go to polls for local elections

More than 3,500 polling stations across Slovenia closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) local time on Sunday after 12 hours of voting for the national local elections for mayors and local councilors, said reports from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

Some 820 candidates were standing for mayors and another 25,240 for local councilors in 210 municipalities, according to Slovenia's National Electoral Commission.

The latest unofficial data from local electoral commissions across Slovenia show that 41.85 percent of the around 1.66 million registered voters cast their votes in the local elections until 4 p.m., much lower than the 57.43 percent recorded four years ago when local elections were held simultaneously with the presidential poll.

Of the 210 municipalities, only 11 are classified as urban municipalities, encompassing major Slovenian cities and towns. More than half of all municipalities have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, while 46 have between 5,000 and 10,000 residents.

In terms of voter numbers, the capital Ljubljana is the biggest municipality with 221,725 eligible voters, whereas Hodos in the northeast is the smallest with a mere 305 registered voters.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said he expected his Slovenian Democrats as the senior ruling coalition partner would improve the result posted in the local elections four years ago, the Slovene Press Agency reported.

"Whoever is elected a mayor in any of the Slovenian municipalities, I expect them to work to the benefit of all the locals," Jansa said in repose to a reporter's question on how the government would cooperate with the Slovenian capital if independent Zoran Jankovic should be elected mayor.

According to an exit poll released on Sunday evening by public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, Jankovic was elected mayor of Ljubljana in the first round of voting on Sunday, clinching 67.5 percent of the votes.

The first unofficial results of the local elections will be released at about 9 p.m. local time.

Source: Xinhua