Dušan Mramor, candidate for finance minister, was supposed to appear before the commission oversight of public finances, while Goran Klemenčič, candidate for justice minister, was invited to the commission for petitions, human rights and equal opportunities.

However, since the two are not the working bodies competent for the two departments in question, the candidates waived the invitations and the coalition deputies refused to show up for the sessions.

The Party of Miro Cerar (SMC) said the Democratic Party (SDS) chairs of both commissions overstepped their powers by convening the hearings, which are in the purview of the competent working bodies.

But the SDS claims the commissions are entitled to put such items on the agenda. MP Andrej Šircelj, the chair of the finances commission, said the move constituted an "attack on democracy".

The SDS is not giving up, though, as Šircelj merely suspended the session which he said would resume Monday.