She told the press that coalition party leaders agreed it was best for Slovenia to hold an early election before the summer.

When Bratušek hands in her resignation to President Borut Pahor and Speaker Janko Veber on Monday, terms will also end for all of her ministers. However, all of them will stay on to handle day-to-day business until a new government is appointed, she said.

The PM believes the elections could be held on 22 June at the earliest. She said that it would be best to hold elections before the summer, not only for herself but for all parties.

Bratušek said that she no longer had an influence on the date of the elections. This is now in the hands of MPs, she added, calling on deputy groups once again to give up their right to propose a PM-designate so that the elections could be called as soon as possible.

Under Slovenian law the president, deputy groups or a group of at least ten MPs have the right to come forward with a PM-designate. So far, Pahor as well as most of the parties said they would not propose a PM-designate in order not to delay calling the elections.

Bratušek also said there was no need to panic, as the government managed to stabilise the country's public finance over the past year and Slovenia's economic performance was better than expected.

This view was reflected by Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) president Karl Erjavec. Talking to the press alongside Bratušek and the two other coalition heads, Gregor Virant of the Citizens' List (DL) and Igor Lukšič of the Social Democrats (SD), Erjavec said his party was happy with the work in the outgoing government.

Lukšič labelled the PM's decision to resign as the only right move possible in the current situation. The decision was made after much thought after the government had done done its top priority job, said Lukšič, referring to the economy.

Virant underlined that it was important for Slovenia to hold an election as soon as possible. The interior minister said that he was most proud of the work of the police in the fight against corruption. "Maybe this is one of the reasons why this government was torn down."

"I can only hope that the people will not hand over the police at the election to those investigated by the police," Virant added, most likely referring to new Positive Slovenia (PS) president Zoran Janković and Democrats (SDS) head Janez Janša.

Bratušek's resignation comes a week after she was defeated by Ljubljana Mayor Janković in a presidency vote of the PS. Together with two ministers, Bratušek left the party shortly after and so have 12 PS deputy group members.

The split in the once biggest parliamentary party was a fatal blow to the government, as none of the coalition partners are willing to cooperate with the party under Janković's leadership after the corruption watchdog found last year he had around EUR 2m in assets he could not account for.

Bratušek however refused to say today how she and her supporters would proceed. She said that they were yet to decide about their next steps after it was speculated that she might form a new party.

While most parties agree with an early election as soon as possible, the biggest opposition party has expressed some reservations.

The Democrats (SDS) would like to see an early election but believe other parties only want a vote before the summer so as to prevent SDS head Janez Janša to have a corruption prison sentence overturned before the vote.

Meanwhile, Janković, who was not invited to the coalition summit gave a statement for the press after the PM announced her decision, saying that his party would not object an early election.

He also explained his position in a letter addressed to the PM before today's meeting, saying the PS would not object an early election before the summer although the PS does not wish for an early election. In the letter Janković expressed the wish the government would carry on under Bratušek.