The Slovenian media reported on Wednesday that the outcome of the referendum would depend on the persuasiveness of arguments made by the arbitration proponents and its opponents.
According to the media, the cabinet of Prime Minister Borut Pahor should outline additional arguments to voters to convince them to vote in favour of the confirmation of the arbitration treaty, already ratified by the two countries' parliaments, and explain to them why a possible rejection of the deal at the Slovenian referendum would be detrimental to Slovenia's national interests.
The negative outcome of the referendum would put the Pahor cabinet into an unpleasant position.
The Ljubljana-based Delo daily says that Pahor is risking much if he believes that Slovenian voters can overnight turn into international law experts who can judge whether he is right when saying that the arbitration agreement is excellent or the Opposition leader Janez Jansa who portrays the agreement as an act of high treason.
Oscillations of opinion polls so far on this subject and previous experiences from referendums in Slovenia show that the outcome of the June referendum is unpredictable and hinges on what politicians, whom voters trust, will say, Delo columnist Boris Suligoj said.
"The latest opinion poll in Delo showing that 46 percent of voters would vote in favour of the arbitration deal with 38 percent being against does not tell us much as public opinion can be radically altered during the one-month campaign through adequate methods," Nikola Damjanic, the owner of the Ninamedia pollster agency, was quoted by the "Dnevnik" daily as saying.