Gašpar Mišič, who had to leave because of tensions in the management, will be replaced by board member Andraž Novak. Novak is expected to head the company until the summer.

The former state secretary in the office of PM Alenka Bratušek was voted out in a 4-4 vote in which one of the supervisors abstained. Proving decisive was the vote of chief supervisor Alenka Žnidaršič Kranjc, counting double in the event of a tie.

Žnidaršič Kranjc said after the session that Gašpar Mišič was dismissed because the management has been dysfunctional, noting that the management board was "split two against two", which is an unsustainable situation.

The outgoing chairman, who said he was proud of his contribution to the development of Luka Koper, feels relieved, "because it was not simple working and inheriting the company in the situation it was in".

Gašpar Mišič noted that until his arrival, the port operator had been without a stable and complete management board for years. He pointed to his results as the chairman, saying that the value of the stock and market capitalisation have doubled.

Gašpar Mišič's sacking ends a protracted agony at the state-owned port operator which already began with his appointment with the help of workers' and local representatives on the supervisory board on 26 August 2013.

This was only a week after he resigned as state secretary in the PM's office and caused an uproar in the public as well in the government.

The state-run SOD fund reacted in October, causing the appointment of five new supervisors, while the company's articles of association were moreover changed in March this year.

The changes reduced the quorum for supervisory decisions from six to five members, thus preventing a potential obstruction by three workers' and one local representatives.

The latest attack against Gašpar Mišič came from board member Jože Jaklin, who accused him in a letter to the supervisors of violating the rules of procedure and of protracting management sessions over several days because of flawed organisation and long monologues.

Asked why the supervisory board did not sack a board member instead of Gašpar Mišič if cooperation within the board is the problem, Žnidaršič Kranjc said that the president of the board is responsible for its performance and good cooperation.

She dismissed the suggestions that the decision is politically motivated. "A political dismissal would require someone else as the president of the supervisory board than me."

The chief supervisor believes that the situation with the management will be stabilised by the end of June, until when the company will be run by the interim CEO Andraž Novak.