He believes progress was made in Tuesday's talks, so "project-based solutions for the areas which could take Slovenia forward very fast" could be reached very soon.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday evening after an SD leadership meeting, he said an option was also to first define the projects for the first two years.

The talks are held by the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) with the SD, Modern Centre Party (SMC), Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and New Slovenia (NSi).

Židan said that on Tuesday the parties reviewed the expectations of the centre-right NSi, with the expectations of the other parties to follow on Wednesday.

He would like them to be able to tell President Borut Pahor in consultations with deputy faction leaders on Friday that "we're here with more than 46 votes".

Despite the optimism, Židan said it would take a great deal of willingness to bring different positions on a common denominator.

"This is no time to think about going on a holiday or taking a rest, it's time to do what we've promised to the people," he said, pointing to the SD's three priorities.

He listed healthcare, which will need 150-180 million euro to eliminate waiting times, the economy, where the SD is pointing to unfavourable world and European trends, and the security of the country and people.

While noting that the SD would be flexible when the coalition talks come to staffing, Židan said "the time is not right for strong egos to undermine the coalition".

He also said the SD was not bothered the NSi was also in talks to form a coalition with the election winner, the Democrats (SDS), because it was doing it transparently.

But the SD would be bothered if the party had done it secretly, as was the case after the 2011 election, according to Židan.

The leader of the SD, which considers itself a leftist party, still sees the Left, which is seen as the only radical left parliamentary party in the country, as a potential partner.

As for a comparison with the German black-red coalition, Židan said the NSi's involvement in the LMŠ-sponsored talks was similar to talks with Angela Merkel's CDU.

Asked why the SD would not enter a coalition with the SDS, he said the SDS was more similar to the Alternative for Germany, which is being excluded by all the other parliamentary parties, than to Merkel's party.