Slovenians vote in Presidential election

(Vatican Radio) Voters in Slovenia have been choosing a president Sunday at a time when the tiny Balkan country is facing a severe financial crisis. Three candidates were competing in the ballot, though current President Danilo Turk was expected to be reelected.
Whoever wins the presidency will be crucial for creating political stability in Slovenia as the eurozone nation faces its deepest economic crisis in years.
Unemployment hovers around 11 percent and the government has moved to push through tough austerity measures, including pay cuts for public sector workers, as well as cuts in welfare benefits.
Though presidency is a largely ceremonial post in Slovenia, the elected leader commands political authority among the nation’s 2 million people.
Opinion polls favor current President Danilo Turk.
His main rivals are former Prime Minister Borut Pahor and the ruling center-right coalition candidate Milan Zver, though it is thought the ballot will go to a second round in early December.
President Turk is on record as support tough budget discipline in all 17 states using the euro currency, including Slovenia.
"It would be very important to establish a different kind of discipline," he said in a recent interview."That should include the possibility of a country also leaving the eurozone...Because the euro is only successful
if it is serious. We cannot have this sort of budgets deficits that we have seen and that have surprised us, he said.
"We can not have cooked statistical data. We have to have serious economies," President Turk added.
Yet despite these efforts, analysts say Slovenia may soon have to ask a bailout to overcome its current difficulties.
It comes amid social tensions, with the main unions calling for large demonstrations against austerity next weekend. Listen to this report by Stefan Bos