Maribor - Marjan Šarec was re-elected president of the party that bears his name on Saturday as the only candidate to vie for the post. He said the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) would aim to enter the new government to push for normalisation and a return to democracy.

"We never want to see Ljubljana suffocating in tear gas any more. We're sick of fences every week, we're sick of [the government] taking it out on the media and peaceful readers of the Constitution," he said in his acceptance speech.

The only way to achieve that is to cast defeatism aside and head to the polls to vote for democracy, he said.

The LMŠ has signed a pre-election alliance of four centre-left parties known under the acronym KUL, but Šarec also mentioned the new party headed by Robert Golob, the Freedom Movement, which is confirming its candidates today. He Sees the timing as conspicuous, boding well for future cooperation.

Šarec recalled how the LMŠ won 13 seats as a non-parliamentary party four years ago to become the second strongest party and then go on to lead the government, which fell apart halfway into its term.

Šarec has been heavily criticised for stepping down thinking that this would lead to a snap election. In fact it resulted in Janez Janša forming a government for the third time.

But he dismissed this criticism yet again saying that his move two years ago was "radical but at the same time democratic."

"For the autocrats it was calling it quits, for me it was the desire for a fresh election. Those who say that I handed power to the current government are very narrow-minded and know very little about behind-the-scenes politics."

He said the party was entering the election race confidently with the goal of achieving "the best possible result" so that the parties now in opposition would have a sufficient majority to form a new government.

The new government will need strong support to quickly and effectively tackle all the problems that have piled up. There will not be much time for negotiations, he warned.

Some of the priorities for the new government that he highlighted include healthcare, energy prices, high public debt, decline in economic growth and the green transition.

Having confirmed Šarec in a 139:1 vote, the party also re-elected MP Jerca Korče as one of the two vice-presidents. MEP Klemen Grošelj will serve as the second vice-president.