Jankovic, who is currently trailing former Public Administration Minister Gregor Virant and Democrats (SDS) head Janez Jansa in public opinion polls, was not clear when he announced his election bid on whether he would expose himself to the chance of only becoming an MP.
A law adopted in May this year made the mayoral post incompatible with the post of deputy at the National Assembly. A mayor standing for MP loses office as soon as he or she is elected.
Most legal experts agree that Jankovic cannot avoid losing his mayoral post if elected to parliament, there is however speculation that he might resign as MP in time for the snap local election in Ljubljana necessary as a result of his appointment.
Elaborating on his decision, Jankovic said at a presentation of the party's campaign coordinators today
that sending his partners into the struggle and merely waiting for the result would not have made sense.
"I know what I am sacrificing, what I have put on the line," Jankovic said, while refusing to comment on who could succeed him as the mayor of Ljubljana.
Jankovic has not yet decided where he will run and rejected speculation that he might pick a region where the chances of election are smaller. "I have chances of being elected anywhere," he said.
Also running on the slate of Jankovic's Positive Slovenia will be Melita Zupevc, an MP of the ruling SocDems in the present term, the pair confirmed today.
Zupevc, who is only the latest in a series of SD defectors, told the news show at commercial broadcaster Kanal A that she was one of the few who had told outgoing PM and SD head Borut Pahor directly what they though about his work and individual decisions.
"I plan to preserve such an attitude in the future. I wish that he had taken some of the pieces of advice into account," Zupevc added.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
