Slovenia celebrate the 20th anniversary of the independence referendum

Slovenia celebrate the 20th anniversary of the independence referendum, marking the event in which Slovenians voted almost unanimously in favour of splitting away from Yugoslavia, triggering a cascade of events that led to the declaration of independence in 1991. The main national ceremony will be held at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana with Prime Minister Borut Pahor as the keynote speaker, but more celebrations will be held throughout the year to mark key events that led to the declaration of independence on 25 June 1991. Independence was confirmed in the 23 December referendum with 95% of the vote in what was the culmination of democratic simmering that started in the 1980s with the rise of the civil society and calls for greater democracy, a process accelerated by increasing tensions in Yugoslavia after the death of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980.

The vote was held less than a year after the first democratic multi-party elections in April 1990 produced a clear winner in the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS), which won the majority on a pro-independence platform and formed a government led by Prime Minister Lojze Peterle.

However, Milan Kucan, the last head of the Slovenian Communist Party, was elected the chair of the presidency of the Republic of Slovenia, beating anti-communist dissident Joze Pucnik in what highlights the long-standing ideological left-right split in Slovenia. The split continues to this day, with disputes coalescing around the role of the Communist Party in the WWII national liberation struggle and the ensuing civil war which left thousands dead, mostly members of right-wing militias that collaborated with the Nazis.

Several senior members of the centre-right opposition who played a major part in the fight for independence are refusing to take part in the honorary committee overseeing the celebrations although they plan to attend the celebrations. The dispute centres on the decision by the Education Ministry to combine the 20th anniversary of independence with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Liberation Front, the WWII resistance movement which was later absorbed by the Communist Party. As a result, high profile independence actors including Peterle and opposition leader Janez Jansa plan on holding a separate ceremony prior to the national celebration.

News source: Slovenia Times link: article