LJUBLJANA, March 24 (Hina) - Around 56% of 1.6 million Slovene voters took part in Sunday's referendums on membership in the European Union and NATO, and most of them voiced support for the country's admission in the two
organisations.
LJUBLJANA, March 24 (Hina) - Around 56% of 1.6 million Slovene
voters took part in Sunday's referendums on membership in the
European Union and NATO, and most of them voiced support for the
country's admission in the two organisations. #L#
After having counted 88% of ballots from the EU referendum and 95%
of ballots from the NATO referendum, the state electoral commission
stated that 89.66% of voters supported Slovenia's EU membership,
while 11.34% were against.
A significantly lower number of voters supported Slovenia's
membership of NATO - 66.18% voted for, while 33.82 were against.
Official incomplete results will be known on Monday evening and
complete official results will be announced on April 1, after the
Diaspora ballots are counted.
Senior Slovene officials and most party leaders said the outcome of
the votes proved the electorate's support for the official policy
the country's coalition government had been implementing in the
past 10-12 years, which would result in a more active foreign policy
and co-decision-making in organisations gathering world
democracies.
As a full EU and NATO member, Slovenia would more actively
participate in the integration of South-East European countries in
both organisations, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said.
Slovenia's admission to the EU and NATO has been opposed only by two
parliamentary parties - the Party of the Slovene Youth and the
Slovene National Party, while most opposition parties have
welcomed referendum results.
Anti-globalist non-government organisations have voiced
disappointment with the referendum results. Vlasta Jelusic of the
Peace Institute stated Slovenia had missed a chance to become known
for anti-militarism and that by voting against NATO Slovene voters
could have expressed opposition to the war in Iraq. Slovenia will be
more exposed to pressures after admission, she said.
(hina) rml