Freedom Movement (Slovenia)

The Freedom Movement (Slovene: Gibanje Svoboda, GS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. It was founded on 26 January 2022, as the successor of the extraparliamentary Green Actions Party (Z.DEJ). At the January congress, Robert Golob was elected as the party's first president and the party received its new identity and name.^[8]

Freedom Movement Gibanje Svoboda
Abbreviation	GS
Chairman	Robert Golob
General Secretary	Vesna Vukovič
Vice Chairman	Sara Žibrat Matej Arčon
Founder	Jure Leben Robert Golob
Founded	8 May 2021 (2021-05-08); 3 years ago (original form) 26 January 2022 (2022-01-26); 2 years ago (current form)
Merger of	List of Marjan Šarec Party of Alenka Bratušek
Preceded by	Green Actions Party
Headquarters	Miklošičeva ulica 7, Ljubljana
Youth wing	Freedom Movement Youth
Membership (2022)	3,000[1]
Ideology	Social liberalism[2]
Political position	Centre[6] to centre-left[7]
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colours	Blue[a]
National Assembly	40 / 90
European Parliament	2 / 8
Mayors	3 / 212
Municipal council	404 / 2,750
Website
gibanjesvoboda.si
Politics of Slovenia Political parties Elections

In its first parliamentary election, the party placed first, obtaining 41 of the 90 seats in the National Assembly,^[9] which is a record for a single party in the history of independent Slovenia. Its chairman Robert Golob subsequently became Prime Minister of Slovenia, heading the Golob Cabinet in coalition with the Social Democrats and The Left.^[10] Shortly after the elections, the Party of Alenka Bratušek and List of Marjan Šarec merged with the party.^[11][12][13]

History

Z.DEJ (2021–2022)

Logo as the Green Actions Party (Z.DEJ)

Jure Leben, the former Minister for the environment in the Cabinet of Marjan Šarec, has announced the purpose of establishing a political party in January 2021 in political show Studio City.^[14] The party was established on 8 May 2021 and Leben was elected as their first and sole president of the party. The party would look for environmental balance, between industrial progress and preserving the environment.

Jure Leben was elected as the first chairman and Gregor Erbežnik became the vice-chairman. ^{[citation needed]} The leadership elected 119 delegates.^[15]

The party never received much public support in opinion polling.^[16] In January 2022, Leben announced retreat from the party and politics, as he said that he would dedicate his time to his family.

Freedom Movement (2022–)

On the 24th of January 2022, Robert Golob, at that time still the Chairman of the board at GEN-I, announced his candidature for the President of the party in decline, its transformation and changing the name to the Freedom Movement.^[16]

The congress took place on 26 January 2022,^[17] Robert Golob was elected as the president, Urška Klakočar Zupančič as vice-president. Mirta Koželj became the President of the party council. Matej Arčon was elected as general secretary of the party.^[18] For the party to protect itself from incited members and hostile takeover attempts, there is a prerequisite for joining the party, which consists of an interview with Robert Golob for every MP candidate^[19][20] Unaffiliated MPs Janja Sluga (previously SMC) and Jurij Lep (previously DeSUS) also joined the party.^[21] After the elections, Golob has said that he is ready to partner with KUL, which is their »natural ally«. On the 1st of February he responded to the joint meeting with the parties of KUL.^[21]

On the 17th of February, the presidents of the Freedom Movement and LIDE had a meeting; both presidents decided that their parties wouldn't participate with a joint electoral list, but there was still a possibility that there could be someone from LIDE to participate on the Freedom Movement list.^[22] On Saturday the 19th of March 2022, there was an election convention of the party, at which they represented their program for the elections and their candidacy list,^[23] which included some famous names such as former boxer Dejan Zavec, journalist of RTV Slovenija Mojca Šetinc Pašek, Mayor of Tržič Borut Sajovic, an expert for Nuclear security Miroslav Gregorič, former rector of the University of Ljubljana Igor Papič and orthopedist Danijel Bešič Loredan.^[24]

Election Win (April 2022)

In the 2022 parliamentary elections, the Freedom Movement placed first with 34.5% of the vote and won 41 of the 90 seats in the National Assembly, defeating the Slovenian Democratic Party and its three-term prime minister Janez Janša.^[25] The Social Democrats, another centre-left party, announced that they would join a government led by Golob,^[26] in addition to The Left, giving him a majority in the legislature and making him Prime Minister of Slovenia, an office he assumed on 25 May 2022. In June 2022, the List of Marjan Šarec and Party of Alenka Bratušek voted in favor of merging into the party, which was approved by the Freedom Movement on 27 June. The official merger was scheduled for the first half of July.^[27]

After the merger, the party got representatives in the European Parliament via former members of LMŠ, Irena Joveva and Klemen Grošelj.

Ideology and platform

The Freedom Movement is a social liberal^[2] and pro-European party with a centre-left orientation. As social measures, the party points out publicly available health care and the increase in the number of employees, the reform of the education system and the digitalisation of schools.^[28] According to former party chairman Leben, Slovenia should be able to rank among the 20 globally most competitive countries in the World Economic Forum criteria.^[29]

In Croatia, the news portal Index commented that Robert Golob embodies the values of the late Prime Minister and President Janez Drnovšek.^[30]

Election results

National Assembly

Year	Leader	Votes	% of vote	Seats	+/–	Government
2022	Robert Golob	410,769	34.45% (#1)	41 / 90	New	Coalition

Presidential

Year	Candidate	1st round		2nd round		Result
		Popular vote	% of vote	Popular vote	% of vote
2022[b]	Milan Brglez	134,726	15.45 (#3)	—	—	Lost

1. as Freedom Movement
2. Supported Social Democrats candidate.

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2024	Irena Joveva	148,291	22,16 (#2)	2 / 9	New	RE

References

1. "4. Redni kongres stranke Gibanje Svoboda". 10 November 2022.
2. "Slowenien: Richtungswahl für Europa". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
3. Margherita Montanari (22 April 2022). "Far-right Salvini and Orbán agree to create a new EU 'centre-right'". Euractiv. However, the centrist "Freedom Movement" (GS) party currently polls at 24.9%, challenging SDS's pole position in the popular vote.
4. Tom Zirpoli (4 May 2022). "Democracy holds in Europe, but remains threatened at home". The Baltimore Sun. In Slovenia, the centrist Freedom Movement, led by Robert Golob, won 34% of the vote compared to 24% percent for Jansa.
5. "Emmanuel Macron remains in charge, says grumpy French electorate". Daily Maverick. 25 April 2022. That is far behind the 34 percent of its main rival, the centrist Freedom Movement, meaning that Mr. Jansa is highly unlikely to keep his post as prime minister.
6. ^[3][4][5]
7. Danica Fink Hafner (2024). Party System Changes and Challenges to Democracy: Slovenia in a Comparative Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 184. ISBN 978-303-154949-6.
8. "Z.Dej preimenovan v Gibanje Svoboda, za predsednika izvoljen Robert Golob". RTVSLO (in Slovenian). 26 January 2022.
9. "Velika zmaga Gibanja Svoboda, v državni zbor še SDS, NSi, SD in Levica". RTVSLO.si.
10. "Poslanci potrdili novo vladno ekipo". N1 (in Slovenian). 1 June 2022.
11. "Uradno: strank LMŠ in SAB ne bo več, le še Svoboda". siol.net (in Slovenian). 27 June 2022.
12. "V LMŠ-ju podprli združitev s stranko Gibanje Svoboda". RTVSLO (in Slovenian). 8 June 2022.
13. "Gibanje Svoboda podprlo pripojitev LMŠ-ja in SAB-a, o kandidaturi Marte Kos še organi stranke". RTVSLO (in Slovenian). 27 June 2022.
14. Uredništvo (11 January 2021). "Jure Leben napovedal novo zeleno stranko". Domovina (in Slovenian). Retrieved 23 January 2021.
15. "Jure Leben: V politiki je čas za menjavo generacij". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
16. "STA: Golob bo kandidiral na sredinem kongresu stranke Z.Dej". www.sta.si. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
17. "Golob bo vodil Gibanje Svoboda: Ključni cilj je zmaga za dosego svobode". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 18 October 2022.
18. "Kdo so ljudje v najožji ekipi Golobovega Gibanja Svoboda". Vsa resnica na enem mestu - Svet24.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 31 January 2022.
19. "Kakšne pogoje postavljajo stranke kandidatom za poslance". N1 (in Slovenian). 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
20. "Koga snubi Robert Golob". N1 (in Slovenian). 8 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
21. "Golob po sestanku s KUL-om: Skupen cilj odhod aktualne vlade in spremembe v državi". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 1 February 2022.
22. "Golob in Zorčič na volitvah ne bosta sodelovala". www.24ur.com. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
23. "Stranka Gibanje svoboda bo predstavila svoj program". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
24. "V primeru Golobove zmage minister za zdravje Danijel Bešič Loredan". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 28 March 2022.
25. Lihtenvalner, Katja (25 April 2022). "Slovenia's populist PM loses election to environmentalist party". CNN. Reuters.
26. "Janez Janša suffers heavy defeat as newcomer party wins Slovenian election". POLITICO. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
27. "Gibanje Svoboda podprlo pripojitev LMŠ-ja in SAB-a, o kandidaturi Marte Kos še organi stranke". RTVSLO (in Slovenian). 27 June 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
28. "Leben se vrača v politiko: 'Dovolj je bilo besed, zavajanj in umetnih delitev'". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
29. "V politiko se s stranko Z.DEJ vrača Jure Leben: "Dovolj je bilo besed, čas je za zelena dejanja"". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
30. "Zašto u Hrvatskoj nije moguća izborna pobjeda nekoga poput Goloba?". Index.hr (in Croatian). 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.