Slovenia & Bahrain Vote: Melania’s lawyer victorious
Slovenia bucks the trend and goes liberal with its first woman president. In Bahrain, sadly it’s the same old song.
Continuing our pledge that Andelman Unleashed will chronicle every presidential or national leadership election around the world, the focus today is on Slovenia—where a runoff produces a startling result—and Bahrain, where his majesty still rules an utter autocracy.
First, Slovenia ….
Whoever thought anyone close to Melania Trump would wind up now as President? Well, two days before Donald planned to announce his own candidacy (again) for President of the United States, someone else close to Melania did snag the brass ring. Natasa Pirc Musa bucked what has seemed to be a growing turn to the right, especially in Europe, and vaulted to office of President of Slovenia.
Musa made a name for herself as a journalist and anchor of the leading prime-time news broadcast on Slovenian television, eventually morphing into a liberal crusader for human rights and an outspoken LGBTQ advocate in what was once a mountainous Alpine republic of Yugoslavia. But to the outside world, she is perhaps best known for her most renowned client—Melania Trump, whose interests she has long looked after from her law practice in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana where she became especially adept at stopping companies from commercializing products with the first lady’s name.
“My first task will be to open a dialogue among all Slovenians,” she said at her victory celebration. “In the democratic election, Slovenians have shown what kind of a country they want. All my life I’ve advocated the same values: democracy, human rights, tolerance. It’s time to stop dealing with the past. Many things have to be done in the future.”
What is most striking about her victory was the forces she has defeated and those that carried her to power. Her opponent in Sunday’s two-person run-off which Musa won 54% to 46%, was Anže Logar, the nation’s former foreign minister. Logar is a member of the ultra-conservative Slovenian Democratic Party whose leader Janez Janša was defeated for re-election to a fourth term as prime minister in parliamentary elections in April. Janša has been a close ally of Viktor Orban, the pro-Russian, ultra-conservative strongman of neighboring Hungary who has relied for years on the Slovenian’s support in any number of confrontations as a thorn in the side of much of Europe.
“Life in Slovenia under prime minster Janez Janša has felt more like Viktor Orban’s Hungary than a moderate EU country,” observed Anuška Delić, founder of Oštro, a non-profit centre for investigative journalism in the Adriatic region.
Musa said she ran for the presidency because she feared that under Janša “the rule of law was falling apart before our very eyes.” As she put it when she entered the presidential race in September: “I have never been quiet when it was necessary to speak up.”
Musa will be working closely with the new prime minister, Robert Golob—a substantial break with the past two-decades of virulently populist rule. Golob heads the Freedom Party, a successor to the more narrowly-focused Green Party. While the post of president is officially ceremonial in Slovenia, it does carry immense moral and suasive power. She has the constitutional right to appoint members of the anti-corruption commission and nominate prime ministers as well as members of the constitutional court, thought parliament still has the final right of ratifying her selections. Since a vote in April left the same liberal block as Musa in control of parliament, there should be few obstacles to her carrying out her vision.
Then there’s Bahrain ….
Effectively, the same holds true in Bahrain where Hamad bin Isa Al Khalif holds absolute power as head of state, and where a first round of elections for the utterly powerless and meaningless parliament was held Saturday—the second round with more than 300 candidates for 40 seats coming next Saturday. Six candidates including one woman won seats in the first round. However, the lower house of parliament does little more than advise King Hamad.
Removing any doubt as to the parliament’s real role or allegiance, the entire upper house, known as the Consultative Council, is appointed by royal decree.
“Holding this general election will not address the atmosphere of repression and the denial of human rights that has gripped Bahrain for years,” Amnesty International observed. As to why the United States had little to say about these elections, it happens that Bahrain also serves as home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
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This has been quite clearly an epiphanal year that Andelman Unleashed has been chronicling as the global—at times corrupt—right has been swept into power or accumulated powerful positions in such disparate nations as Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Kenya, the Philippines, Israel, even France. Then, of course there’s been the United States.
Next up is the snap election in Malaysia on November 19, followed by Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Fiji, winding up with Guinea-Bissau on December 18.
Perhaps.....but would this be their first country of choice to settle?
Will/can Slovenia admit more migrants, then?