DL president Gregor Virant has been keeping the public in the mist, stressing that the DL had not made any commitments to the emerging coalition in his talks with the PM-designate on its potential cooperation in the new government.

Nevertheless, the party's deputy faction leader Rihard Braniselj said on Tuesday he expected the decision to be unanimous and that he saw no reason not to team up with Bratušek in the new government.

On the other hand, DL vice-president Janez Šušteršič was more reserved about the move in his comments for the STA on Tuesday, noting that it would be better for Slovenia to have an election than a government without the support of the people.

He did not announce how he would vote, but said the confirmed coalition partners had shown insufficient understanding and too much opposition to his projects for solving the country's finances as minister under the outgoing government.

The party's 24-strong governing council is first to debate the progress of the coalition negotiations and the draft coalition agreement, and then take a vote on joining Bratušek's Positive Slovenia (PS), the Social Democrats (SD) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

If the DL turn down the invitation to the coalition, the PM-designate is left with 42 votes in the 90-seat parliament. However, the other coalition partners have indicated they would proceed with forming a minority government, counting also on the votes of three unaffiliated deputies.