elections: National Assembly - last held 21 September 2008 (next to be held 8 October 2012)
election results: percent of vote by party - SD 30.5%, SDS 29.3%, ZARES 9.4%, DeSUS 7.5%, SNS 5.5%, SLS+SMS 5.2%, LDS 5.2%, other 7.4%; seats by party - SD 29, SDS 28, ZARES 9, DeSUS 7, SNS 5, SLS+SMS 5, LDS 5, Hungarian minority 1, Italian minority 1
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are elected by the National Assembly on the recommendation of the Judicial Council); Constitutional Court (judges elected for nine-year terms by the National Assembly and nominated by the president)
Political parties and leaders:
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia or LDS [Katarina KRESAL]; New Slovenia
or NSi [Ljudmila NOVAK (acting)]; Slovenian Democratic Party or SDS
[Janez JANSA]; Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia or DeSUS
[Karl ERJAVEC]; Slovene National Party or SNS [Zmago JELINCIC];
Slovene People's Party or SLS [Bojan SROT]; Slovene Youth Party or
SMS [Darko KRANJC]; Social Democrats or SD [Borut PAHOR] (formerly
ZLSD); ZARES [Gregor Golobic]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Democratic Party of Slovenian Pensioners or DeSUS (protecting the rights of the older generation); Slovenian Roma Association [Jozek Horvat MUC]
other: Catholic Church
International organization participation: