Sharjah24 – AFP: Slovenians vote on Sunday in close presidential elections seen as a chance by the country's conservatives to regain some support after their defeat in April parliamentary elections.
Electors in the small Alpine EU member of two million people will choose from seven candidates standing for the largely ceremonial post -- but with no candidate expected to clinch the 50 percent support needed for an outright victory, a second round of voting looks likely.
The frontrunner, with a forecast 30.1 percent of the vote, is expected to be Anze Logar, a foreign minister under the former conservative government of veteran Janez Jansa.
Slovenia's former head of the data protection authority, centre-left candidate Natasa Pirc Musar, 54, is tipped to gain around 20 percent of the vote, according to a poll published by daily Delo on Friday.
Liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob has backed European Social Democrats parliament member, Milan Brglez, and called for the centre-left parties to unify behind one candidate.
The 55-year-old Brglez is tipped to get just over 17 percent of the vote.
Polls opened in the former Yugoslav republic at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and will close at 7:00 pm, with partial results expected later in the evening.
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