Ljubljana - The council of the Left on Wednesday picked MP Miha Kordiš to run as the coalition party's candidate for president in the 23 October election. The Left will thus not back a joint coalition candidate.

Kordiš, who is known for his blunt remarks and sometimes radical positions, said presidential elections in Slovenia were considered to be a vote of protocol devoid of substance, which the Left wanted to change by giving the office back its substance and weight.

"This country certainly doesn't need yet another political official who will work for corporations, banks, defend the interests of the arms lobby or tend their own image in social media," said the 33-year-old MP.

He believes that people need a president who will stand up for them, a president "who will defend and speak out when public healthcare is under threat, who will stand up for tackling housing issues, who will defend the environmental priorities [...] and who will take a stand to tackle elderly care".

He would also like to be a president who will stand up for workers.

"I believe politics of peace and non-violence is which the president as the commander in chief of the armed forces should pursue and I intend to strictly stick to that myself," he said, adding that foreign policy should serve peace and cooperation rather than "conflicts of interests that are in no way ours".

Asta Vrečko, the culture minister and deputy chair of the party council, said Kordiš was put forward in all proposals from the party's rank and file.

According to party leader Luka Mesec the Left had worked on Kordiš's nomination for weeks, while the initiative from the fellow coalition Social Democrats (SD) for the coalition to unanimously endorse MEP Milan Brglez did not come until last week.

This was the reason they opted to run with their own candidate. Mesec promised Kordiš would make for a pleasant surprise in this election just like the Left was a pleasant surprise of the coalition.

"In the first round we are sending our candidate in the race [...] We understand a joint coalition candidate as a manner to increase Milan Brglez's chances to make it to the run-off," said Mesec, who serves as labour minister.

The STA has learnt that Brglez has given up all his roles in the SD after being backed as the party's candidate. This was also the condition set by the Freedom Movement, the largest coalition party, to back him.

Unofficially, the latter is to decide on whether to back him on Thursday and will presumably endorse him.

In a letter to the SD leadership obtained by the STA, Brglez says he has resigned as the head of the party conference and withdrew his consent to run for SD vice chair in the October congress.