Slovene National Party
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| Slovene National Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Zmago Jelinčič |
| Founded | 17 March 1991 |
| Headquarters | Tivolska 13, Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Political ideology | Populism, Left Wing, Nationalism |
| International affiliation | None |
| Website | http://www.sns.si/ |
The Slovene National Party (Slovenska Nacionalna Stranka) is a political party in Slovenia led by Zmago Jelinčič with Sašo Peče as party vice-president. At the last legislative elections, 3 October 2004, the party won 6.3% of the popular vote and six out of ninety seats. The party is renowned for its Euroscepticism and opposes Slovenia's membership in NATO. It also opposes historical revisionism of 1941-1945 historic events, that took place in Slovenia and to an extent, shares common therories with the former regime of Tito. Although the party takes no particular political preferences, its president Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti declared himself left wing in a 2000 interview for Mladina.
The party loudly demands better treatment of Slovene minorities in Italy, Austria and Hungary. The leader Jelinčič also proposed that the national border with Croatia is closed, apart from two custom stations for trade, until territorial dispute with Croatia is resolved (primarily the maritime border on Piran Bay and several small sectors along the land border). He also advocates for improving relationships with Serbia and other former Yugoslav republics.
[edit] Party foundations, leadership and program
The party was founded on 17 March 1991 by Zmago Jelinčič, who was a decorated war hero in the liberation war. Although Jelinčič is still leading the party with Peče as the vice-president, many prominent members abandoned the party, but that did not seriously affect party structure, even though the ideologies of both MPs and voters sometimes differ.
The party receives support from various strands of society; these range from communists (including nostalgics), to more moderate voters. The party advocates strict economic regulations, laicism, development of basic and applicative science, citizen education in schools, change of national flag and coat of arms, reforming of justice system and isolation from EU and NATO. The party views can be described as being both nationalistic and socialist.
At the first elections in democratic Slovenia, the SNS won between 10 and 11% of the popular vote, which declined to 6% in the 2004 legislative elections. The Motto of the party is "with no hair on the tongue". When Jelinčič was asked what the prime leftist difference between SNS and the Democratic Party of Retired (Desus) is, he replied: "A young woman from time to time.".
Unofficially, the party supports the idea of Greater Slovenia. A map of Greater Slovenia can be seen on the party flag. A similar map appears on the Greater Serbia proposal, which includes expanding Slovenian territory, as well as Serbian. This is perhaps the reason for taking staunch pro-Serbian politics. President Jelinčič also published a book Hrvatje v luči zgodovinske resnice (Croats in light of historical truth), which was originally written by an unknown author, known as "Psunjski", where he harshly criticises Croatia and praises Slovenia and Serbia, as well as Tito and the anti-fascist struggle.
Parliamentary representation: 
