Cracks in the five-piece coalition first appeared when it came to ideological topics, with Citizen's List (DL), Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and People's Party (SLS) on one side and "the core" consisting of Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) on the other.

SDS leadership apparently took complaints of the troika seriously - especially because behind the curtains, things were also getting tangled up when it came to key issues, such as staffing at key institutions set to manage state property.

Janša's announcement of a confidence vote stirred the "dangerous liaisons" between the coalition parties, which received no heads-up about Janša's intents. They had only a couple of days to calculate what the collapse of the government could mean for them, Delo writes.

"DeSUS didn't think twice; the party was quick to step in line to negotiate a new, left-leaning coalition. SLS and DL reacted differently. The former has its voter base on the right and cannot so easily turn to the left, while the latter found itself in a similar position, having played a central role in enabling Janša's government to be created in the first place."

That is why the mission of DL leader Gregor Virant, who tried hardest for a time out, could succeed at all. But a time out was also the best possible solution for the opposition, which is still busy dealing with itself and seems unlikely to be able to swing into power any time soon, the paper concludes in "Fragile Political Cease-Fire".