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Slovenia: PM to become president
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- Slovenia's long-serving Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek is set to resign this week to prepare for his new job as president, pledging to keep the former Yugoslav republic on a pro-Western course. Following victory in the presidential election on Sunday, Drnovsek, 52, told reporters: "It obviously is a recognition of my work until now, of the fact that we established Slovenia as a successful state. Now we're ready to move forward." The economist has been a leading figure since Slovenia's independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 after a 10-day war. Finance minister Anton Rop is expected to become prime minister. During Drnovsek's previous terms as prime minister, Slovenia -- which borders Italy, Austria and Croatia -- became a member of NATO's auxiliary Partnership for Peace programme and an associate member of the European Union. It now has full membership of NATO with membership of the EU expected in 2004. Drnovsek beat Barbara Brezigar, a 49-year-old state prosecutor and a political novice, who attracted many voters with a message that the young country needed new leaders. Drnovsek, leader of the Liberal Democrats, won 56 percent of the votes with Brezigar on 44 percent, according to near-complete results. He will become the country's second president. Milan Kucan, 61, the only president the nation has had since independence, was barred by the constitution from seeking a third term. Born in the northeastern city of Celje on May 17, 1950, Drnovsek studied economics and worked as a banker, before entering politics in the late 1980s. He won his first mandate in 1992, and the second in 1996. The conservative opposition ousted him in mid-2000, but he returned to the post in elections six months later. His health has been fragile since having a cancerous kidney removed three years ago, but he says he is fit for the presidency. The presidential inauguration is set for December 23.
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