25 Facts About Borut Pahor

Borut Pahor is a Slovenian politician who served as President of Slovenia from 2012 to 2022.

Borut Pahor previously served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2008 to February 2012.

In September 2011, Borut Pahor's government lost a confidence vote amidst an economic crisis and political tensions.

Borut Pahor continued to serve as the pro tempore Prime Minister until he was replaced by Janez Jansa in February 2012.

Borut Pahor defeated the incumbent Danilo Turk in a runoff election held on 2 December 2012, receiving roughly two-thirds of the vote.

In November 2017, Borut Pahor was re-elected for a second term against Marjan Sarec.

Borut Pahor was born in Postojna, SR Slovenia, in the former Yugoslavia, and spent his childhood in the town of Nova Gorica, before moving to the nearby town of Sempeter pri Gorici.

Borut Pahor's father died at a young age and his mother, Iva Pahor Martelanc, a seamstress and Nazi concentration camp survivor, raised him as a single mother.

Borut Pahor graduated in 1987 with a thesis on peace negotiations between members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Borut Pahor became involved in party politics already in high school.

Borut Pahor rose to prominence in the late 1980s, when he became one of the strongest supporters of the reformist wing of the Communist Party, led by Milan Kucan and Ciril Ribicic.

In 1989, Borut Pahor co-founded and chaired the Democratic Forum, a youth section within the Slovenian Communist Party established as a counter-force to the Alliance of Socialist Youth, which was now already openly opposing the communists' policies.

Together with Milan Balazic, Borut Pahor emerged as the leader of the pro-reformist wing of the party, which advocated a clear cut with the communist past and a full-fledged acceptance of free-market economy; they even went so far to propose the merger of the party with Joze Pucnik's Social Democratic Party of Slovenia.

In 1997, he was involved in the attempt of creating a common left-wing government between Borut Pahor's United List of Social Democrats, the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, the Slovenian National Party, and the Pensioner's Party.

Borut Pahor was proposed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in this left-wing coalition government, but the proposal failed to gain a majority in the parliament.

In 2000, Borut Pahor led his party in the coalition with the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia led by Janez Drnovsek.

Borut Pahor was elected speaker of the Slovenian National Assembly.

Borut Pahor served on Parliament's Budgetary Control committee and the Constitutional Committee during the period of the rejection of the Constitutional treaty by France and the Netherlands and the negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, supporting the Parliament's line on this.

Borut Pahor was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2008 until February 2012, heading the government formed by Social Democrats in coalition with the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and Zares.

On 1 December 2011, several clips of the recordings of closed sessions of the Government of Slovenia during Borut Pahor's term were published on the video-sharing website YouTube.

On 19 December 2011, while still in hospital due to otitis media, Borut Pahor accepted the candidacy for the Speaker of the National Assembly after National Assembly election, but retracted it after two unsuccessful election rounds.

In June 2012, Borut Pahor unsuccessfully ran for re-election as president of the Social Democrats.

Borut Pahor was defeated by Igor Luksic by a narrow margin.

Borut Pahor stated he will keep the promises he made during the campaign and will keep working to help solve the problems the nation faces.

Borut Pahor met Vladimir Putin, whom he encouraged to try to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, and suggested a Trump-Putin meeting in Ljubljana, which has previously served as a venue for such occasion in 2001.