Ljubljana - The Left, the smallest of the three parties in the government, has decided to field its own candidate for the 23 October presidential election. This will most likely make the Left the only coalition party with own candidate after Marta Kos of the ruling Freedom Movement has pulled out and the SocDems have not picked one.

The Left believes the political arena is open to a candidate promoting the voice of working people, social justice, environmental protection, and politics of peace, according to a press release on Tuesday.

The party has opened registration procedures and is expected to present its candidate in a fortnight.

It is not yet clear whether the Freedom Movement or the Social Democrats (SD) would endorse the Left's candidate.

The party said it had not discussed this with its coalition partners.

Kos, a vice-president of the Freedom Movement, pulled out of the presidential race in a surprise more last week after she was among the first to present her bid.

She cited "personal reasons" and "changed circumstances" while polls showed she had little chance of entering a run-off, trailing far behind Nataša Pirc Musar and Anže Logar, both of whom are collecting voter signatures to formally run as independents.

The Freedom Movement executive committee then decided the party will not have its own candidate and took two weeks to decided which candidate to support.

The SD decided not to enter the election race with its own candidate as none of those registered as potential candidates agreed to stand.

Since part of the membership would still like it to have a Social Democratic candidate, SD leader Tanja Fajon did not entirely rule out this option, give that candidates have until 28 September to formally file the candidacy with the National Electoral Commission.