The first round of nomination, in which the president has sole power to designate a candidate for prime minister, will formally end on Monday.

In the second round, which lasts two weeks and will start when parliament is formally briefed about the failed first round, presumably next Friday, groups of MPs and individual deputy groups may put forward their nominee as well.

A brief third round lasting two days is also possible, when the nominee gets elected with a simple majority; in the first two rounds, they need an absolute majority of over 46 votes.

Janša's Democrats (SDS) need at least two more partners aside from their natural ally, New Slovenia (NSi), to form a majority.

His main rival for the post, Marjan Šarec, meanwhile saw his six-party talks collapse after the NSi walked out quoting fears that such a government would not be stable.

The Social Democrats (SD) reiterated today they would not join an SDS-led coalition under any circumstances. SD president Dejan Židan suspects Janša will not be able to form a coalition on the second or third attempt.

"Parliament is likely to spend two days and two nights between 20 and 23 August attempting to find a solution to avert a snap election," he said.

Similarly, Franc Jurša, the deputy group leader said those building a coalition will "start running faster in the second round and sprint in the third round" because voters do not want another snap election.

Outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar meanwhile said his Modern Centre Party (SMC) remains committed to "a development-oriented, liberal and stable government."

Other parties did not provide comment today.

Aljaž Pengov Bitenc, a blogger and columnist, speculates that parties will do everything they can to avert a snap election given that party coffers are empty and two more elections are looming within a year.

He thinks success in the second round is unlikely, since that would probably require an out-of-the-box solution in the form of a technocratic prime minister.

"Nobody is ready to think about all party presidents withdrawing in favour of a third person," he told the STA.

Consequently, he thinks that an increasingly likely option would be a minority government.

"At this moment a minority government is more likely than many are willing to admit ... It would finally shift the centre of decision-making back to parliament," he said.

In the event a snap election does happen, he thinks that large parties with well organized local networks such as the SDS and SD would have a huge advantage.

However, it is by no means certain that in a snap election parties with a more faithful voter base would gain ground. "Such a course of events is absolutely not a given."