Turk wins Slovenia presidential vote

"Centre-left opposition party candidate Danilo Turk decisively won Slovenia's presidential election Sunday, the electoral commission announced. His landslide victory dealt a blow to the ruling centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Janez Jansa ahead of general elections next year.

The 55-year-old Turk won 68.26 percent of the vote, while Lojze Peterle, backed by the PM's centre-right coalition, took just 31.74 percent, according to results with 99.9 percent of the votes counted, the commission said. Mail ballots have yet to be tallied and final full results are expected to be published in a week's time.

Turk's majority is the largest won in a presidential election in 15 years, beating even reformed communist Milan Kucan, who in 1992 won 64 percent of the vote in Slovenia's first democratic elections after independence. Peterle conceded defeat almost immediately after first exit polls indicated Turk's victory, admitting: 'I expected a better result.'"

Source: AFP