Making the announcement at a press conference in Ljubljana, Türk said that he already formally submitted the nomination to the parliamentary speaker in a bid to speed up government formation.

People clearly expressed their will in the election and it is a tradition for the president of the party winning a plurality of the vote to get the mandate to build a coalition, Türk said, confident of Janković's success.

Janković's Positive Slovenia won 28.5% of the vote in what was Slovenia's first ever snap election on 4 December, which secured it 28 seats in the 90-strong National Assembly.

The president expressed criticism of the muscle-flexing by the parties recently, underscoring that what the country needed now was a concerted effort for the common good.

His reference was perhaps to the idea of a national unity government advocated by three smaller parties or tentative talks that appear to have started on a coalition agreement proposed by Janez Janša, the leader of the second biggest parliamentary faction.

Under the rules of procedure, the National Assembly takes a vote on the appointment of the new PM 48 hours at the earliest and seven days at the latest after the filing of the nomination.

Before the vote, Janković will need to outline the programme of his government to the assembly.

If he fails to win an absolute majority of 46 votes, a vote will be repeated based on new nominations, which may be put forward by the president, deputy groups or at least ten deputies.

If endorsed, Janković needs to put forward a line-up of ministers to the national assembly within 15 days. Each ministerial candidate will undergo a hearing before the corresponding parliamentary committee within seven days, whereupon the plenary takes a vote on the line-up as a whole.