Igor Zorčič, who served as president of the Slovenian National Assembly between 2020 and 2022, has been named new director of the National Electoral Commission, which manages all elections and election-related procedures in the country.

He will start his five-year term on 1 February 2024, when Dušan Vučko retires after twelve years on the job, the National Electoral Commission said on 7 December.

Zorčič, 45, was picked as the best of three short-listed candidates. Seven applied for the job.

He has a degree in law and has worked various legal jobs before entering politics in 2014 as an MP for the Modern Centre Party, which has since merged with another party and adopted a new name. He is currently a lawyer.

Zorčič became president of the National Assembly in 2020, after his party endorsed Janez Janša for prime minister.

But just a year later, he and two other MPs left the party to become independent, in a move that weakened the government.

He remained speaker until the end of the term, having refused to step down on his own and the government not having a majority in parliament to replace him.

He formed his own party for the 2022 general election but failed to clear the 4% threshold to enter parliament. Later that year he unsuccessfully run for Brežice mayor.