According to the president, the commentary, which says that Zoran Janković won the 4 December election by scaring voters who are not of Slovenian ethnicity against voting for the SDS, exceeds the right to freedom of expression and contains elements of hate speech.

"Such actions should be firmly rejected as unacceptable in the public discourse and political dialogue," Tuerk was quoted by his office. He expects the authorities to investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

"The level of culture in the public and political discourses in the Slovenian society is a problem we encounter too often," he pointed out.

The commentary says that most of the people who voted for Jankovic in the 4 December election had "a foreign accent" and "came to the polling stations in track suits". It also suggests that they had been instructed on how to vote and even pressured into voting for Jankovic.

Information Commissioner Natasa Pirc Musar said that the controversial commentary, published under the news section of the SDS site, contained elements of the crime of public incitement to hatred, violence and intolerance, which is why she filed a criminal report against the author and the web site administrator today.

In a statement for the STA, she said that her office had received no reports of abuse of electoral register or personal data, which the author alleged in the commentary.

Human Rights Ombudsman Zdenka Cebasek Travnik said earlier today she expected a criminal report to be filed. "We have highlighted the unacceptable remarks or analysis which probably is not an analysis and which focuses on the voters who did not vote for rightist parties," Cebasek Travnik told the press today.

The Slovenian Journalists' Association (DNS) also condemned the commentary, by saying it contained "nationalistic, shunning discourse which also contains elements of hate speech and goes against the notion of equality of all regardless of their ethnic origin, which is an indisputable civilisational gain within the framework of human rights and freedoms notion".