9th Prime Minister of Slovenia
Marjan ?arec
(born 2 December 1977) is a Slovenian politician, actor and comedian who served as
prime minister of Slovenia
from 2018 to 2020. He has served as the
minister of defence
in the
government
of Prime Minister
Robert Golob
since 1 June 2022.
He started his career as a comedian and satirist, before entering politics. Elected twice as
Mayor
of
Kamnik
(2010?2018), ?arec ran in the
2017 presidential election
, narrowly losing to the incumbent
Borut Pahor
in the
run-off
. He entered the
National Assembly
in the
parliamentary election of 2018
with his party, the
List of Marjan ?arec
. On 17 August 2018, he became Prime Minister of Slovenia.
[1]
On 27 January 2020 he announced his resignation as Prime Minister.
Education and early career in comedy
[
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Marjan ?arec commenced his education by joining
Marija Vera
primary school in Duplica neighbourhood of
Kamnik
. Subsequently, he enrolled in a vocational course at the
High School for Woodcraft
in
Ljubljana
.
[2]
After graduating from high school in 1996 and following the advice of director
Marjan Bevk
, ?arec graduated as an actor from the
Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television
(part of the
University of Ljubljana
) in 2001. In the following years, he was actively involved with the Slovenian
National television
, appearing in
Sa?o Hribar
's radio show Radio Ga-Ga and TV show Hri-bar. ?arec was mostly working as a comedian and political satirist. During this time, his famous stage persona was
Ivan Serpentin?ek
, a grouchy rural character from
Upper Carniola
.
[3]
He also imitated several famous people, including former president of Slovenia
Janez Drnov?ek
,
Karel Erjavec
,
Osama bin Laden
,
Fidel Castro
,
Anton Rop
,
Jelko Kacin
,
Janez Jan?a
,
Andrej Bajuk
, and others.
[4]
[5]
He was also working as a journalist and editor.
[6]
Political career
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Local politics
[
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]
In the 2010
local election
, ?arec ran for office of mayor of
Kamnik
, a town in
north-central Slovenia
. In a rare case among Slovenian media personalities who attempted to enter national or local politics, ?arec was successful. After finishing second in the first round, he narrowly won the runoff.
[4]
After being a member of
Zoran Jankovi?
's
Positive Slovenia
party, ?arec entered the 2014 local election with his own political list and was reelected in the first round with almost two thirds of the vote.
[6]
After becoming an elected official, ?arec retired his stage personas and became fully committed to the work of the mayor.
[7]
Presidential campaign
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In May 2017, ?arec announced he would run in the upcoming
presidential election
, to take place on October 22. Despite the media reminding him of his acting career, ?arec stated he was completely serious about the candidacy, as "the function of the president should be treated as a serious one".
[4]
Criticizing the incumbent president
Borut Pahor
for treating the presidential function as a celebrity, ?arec was viewed as a potentially strong candidate, one who could attract the younger generation of voters and voters leaning towards the left side of political spectrum.
[8]
[4]
In the first round of the election, ?arec won 25% of the vote, resulting in a run-off against Pahor on 12 November, in which he narrowly lost.
[9]
[10]
Prime Minister of Slovenia
[
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?arec with Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev
, 19 October 2018
In June 2018, ?arec participated in the
parliamentary election
with the
List of Marjan ?arec
. The party won 12.6% of the vote, resulting in 13 MPs.
[11]
LM? became the second-biggest party in the National Assembly. On 17 August 2018, he was elected as the new head of government, leading the
13th Government of Slovenia
.
[1]
On 27 January 2020, ?arec resigned from the post, following the resignation of the Minister of Finance, who resigned because of the proposed changes to the health-related legislation.
[12]
[13]
References
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Prime Ministers / Presidents of the
Executive Council of
SR Slovenia
(1945?1990)
|  Socialist Republic of Slovenia
|
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Prime Ministers of
Slovenia
(1990?present)
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