It is 22 years to the day on Tuesday since Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, which is celebrated every 25 June as National Day, a work-free day. The holiday marks 25 June 1991, when the Slovenian Assembly passed the Basic Constitutional Charter and the Declaration of Independence.
The documents were passed on the basis of a plebiscite held on 23 December 1990 in which 88.2% of all voters opted for a break from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The turnout was at 93.2%.ž
However, the first major step towards independence was the multi-party elections in April 1990, which were won by a coalition of newly-emerged parties associated in the DEMOS coalition.
Three months after the elections, DEMOS adopted a declaration of Slovenia's sovereignty which envisaged the adoption of a Constitution within a year.
Independence, however, was officially declared at a 25 June 1991 ceremony in the square in front of the parliament building. Just hours later, the new state was attacked by the Yugoslav People's Army.
This was the outset of a brief war for independence which ended on 7 July 1991 when Slovenia pledged in an EU-brokered declaration to suspend its independence efforts for three months.
The central National Day ceremony was held on Monday evening in Ljubljana's Congress Square, with President Pahor delivering the keynote speech and calling for unity of the nation.
Today President Pahor with a delegation will lay a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the 1991 war for Slovenian independence at the Žale cemetery.
Source: Slovenia Times
