Slovenia goes to polls in election marked by claims of anti-Romany rhetoric | Slovenia

Campaigners in Slovenia have warned that anti-Roma rhetoric will increase as the country goes to the polls on Sunday, saying many are ready for the outcome of the vote, which has in part become a referendum on how to treat the country’s most marginalized.

In Sunday’s vote, prime minister Robert Golob of the center-left Freedom Movement party will face right-wing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Janša.

Polls suggest Janša’s Slovenian Democratic party has a narrow lead, but neither candidate is likely to win a majority in the country’s 90-seat parliament.

In the months before the elections, most of the focus was on accusations of corruption and access to public services, including healthcare.

Social policy issues were also on the agenda throughout the campaign, with campaigners accusing both Golob and Janša of scapegoating the country’s Roma minority. Golob’s government was accused last year of treating Roma people as a security threat, while Janša, a three-time former prime minister, claimed they benefited from double standards when it comes to rights and equality.

“We Roma are faced with two evils in the elections here,” said committee chairman Zvonko Golobič. Association for the Development of the Roma Community in the southeastern town of Črnomelj. “So the question is: Who is less evil?”

Slovenia’s population of approximately 2.1 million consists of an estimated 12,000 Roma. Many are extremely vulnerable: in 2020, Amnesty International said life expectancy for Roma in Slovenia was 22 years lower than the rest of the population, and infant mortality was more than four times higher. Some communities in the country continue to lack access to basic infrastructure and basic services, as well as clean drinking water, electricity and sanitation.

Haris Tahirović, head of an umbrella group representing Roma communities across the country, said the elections and the rhetoric surrounding Roma in the previous months had led many to worry that the community’s rights would be further eroded.

“Right now Roma people 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, according to campaigners, turned some Roma neighborhoods into “security zones” by giving police the power to enter homes in so-called “high-risk” areas and raid them without permission.

The “Šutar law” came into force after the death of Aleš Šutar, who was killed in an argument with members of the Roma community.

While Golob said the measures were “not aimed at a specific ethnic group, but against crime itself”, critics, including Amnesty International, said they disproportionately affected the Roma community.

Esther Major, Amnesty International’s deputy director for research in Europe, said in a statement last November: “Although not explicitly targeted at the Roma population, the vitriol used by the government to justify these measures raises serious fears that they will be applied in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner against the Roma population.

“Combined with safeguards, punitive restrictions on benefits could further penalize the most marginalized families.”

Tahirović said it was hardly a coincidence that Golob introduced the law before the election. “He used this to scapegoat Roma because he saw them as the easiest targets to attack in order to retain his position as prime minister,” he said.

Still, campaigners said Janša, an ally of Viktor Orbán in Hungary whose previous rule was marked by attacks on the media and immigrants, was likely to leave society even worse off. “He would be even more radical,” said Golobič, who is the candidate of the newly formed We Socialists. The party is expected to receive around 1 percent of the votes in the election. “The risks are high.”

Ahead of Sunday’s election, Janša suggested he would push for tougher penalties for Roma and increase the number of areas identified as potentially “high risk”, meaning more Roma settlements could be targeted with security measures.

Janša also promised to cut funding to civil society; This is a move that could hinder the Roma community’s ability to organize and speak out on issues that affect them. Tahirović said: “We want nothing more than to be an equal part of this society.”

The election race has intensified in recent weeks after leaked audio and video recordings allegedly exposing government corruption were published on an anonymous website. Golob denied the allegations.

An investigation this week led to Janša I met individuals The incident, which was linked to Israeli spy company Black Cube in December, sparked questions about whether the agency known to have worked with Harvey Weinstein to dispel allegations of sexual harassment was behind the anonymous website. Janša denied any wrongdoing.

Commentators warned that the polarizing campaign pitting populist Janša against centre-left incumbent Golob had put the country at a crossroads.

“These… are perhaps the most important elections ever in Slovenia because they will decide whether Slovenia will remain a democratic welfare state or be compatible with illiberal democracies,” Robert Botteri, editor of Mladina magazine, told Reuters.