Erjavec labelled the decision as "historic for DeSUS", saying that the only two scenarios left were a right-leaning coalition or an early election. The latter would leave Slovenia without an operational government for half a year, causing credit ratings to sink even further and worsen Slovenia's economic and financial situation, he said.

Executive committee of DeSUS is expected to meet again on Tuesday to hear the report from the negotiating group. Immediately after that, the party's council is to meet to decide whether DeSUS is to join the right-leaning coalition.

Erjavec underlined that the party had endorsed relative winner of the general election, Positive Slovenia (PS) head Zoran Janković, but it became clear that he was unable to put together a government in this moment.

DeSUS's decision comes after Janković, who was rejected as PM in the National Assembly last week, failed to meet its demand to present the names of his alleged supporters among MPs of right-leaning parties.

The DeSUS head believes that President Danilo Türk should now appoint SDS head Janez Janša as PM-designate to alleviate the tension in Slovenia, which has not been this polarized in the past 20 years.

The SDS, the second largest party in the National Assembly, which is already in coalition talks with the Virant List, the SLS and NSi, needs DeSUS to reach an absolute majority parliament. With DeSUS on board, the coalition would have 50 seats in the 90-member parliament.

The PS and its partner, the Social Democrats (SD), did not comment on DeSUS's move, while the Virant List and NSi welcomed its decision to join coalition talks with them. The SDS has yet to respond to the news, while the SLS believes that a right-leaning coalition is the only realistic option at this moment.

DeSUS's demands remain the same as during coalition talks with Janković. The party will insist on heading one of the power ministries (defence, interior affairs, foreign affairs, finance and justice) and either labour or health ministry.

Erjavec also commented on yesterday's proposal by Türk to the parliamentary parties to think about supporting former NLB bank chairman Marko Voljč as a candidate for PM-designate. He said the proposal is "probably no longer realistic", as he believes that it does not enjoy sufficient support.