Ljubljana - Robert Golob, the former chairman of electricity trader Gen-I, has told Večer it will be clear by the end of January if he will enter the election race and if he does, whether he would form a new party or have a go with one of the existing parties.

He said he was in talks almost on a daily basis with representatives of various parties and movements and had received no less than six offers in the last two to take the reign of existing parties.

Media reports suggest major established parties on the left are reserved about entering the fray with Golob since polls indicate they would suffer severe voter defections. Some smaller parties, however, have been inviting him to take over, most notably Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković's dormant Positive Slovenia.

"But since I'm saying that particracy is one of the reasons why we are in the position we are in, taking over any of the established parties is not the right path. It's better to start things from scratch."

Golob says he is more in favour of civil-society movements but has also determined that the act on political parties is restrictive. This is why it will probably be "impossible to avoid" contesting the election in a party structure, but one that would be "very different from existing parties".

Asked whether he would be willing to be prime minister, Golob said that "nobody has the right to say no when the situation calls for action and when they are trusted by their fellow citizens."

He said that his goal was freedom. "If this freedom requires that I be a minister, I'll be a minister. If it requires that I be the prime minister designate and I get the mandate, I will be the prime minister designate."

Golob has so far been coy about the direction a party of his might take, telling a recent debate in Maribor that he was thinking of a "product that is a bit left, a bit right ... but better than the current situation."