Leftist former diplomat Danilo Turk won Slovenia's presidential run-off yesterday ahead of a government-backed conservative.
Preliminary results showed that Mr Turk (55), a law professor supported by the left, gathered 68.2 per cent, after most of the votes had been counted.
Conservative contender Lojze Peterle, backed by most of the centre-right government, had 31.8 per cent of the votes.
Final results will be available by November 20th, and the president, who has a say in defence and foreign policy, will be sworn in shortly before the country assumes the EU presidency on January 1st.
Analysts said Mr Turk's margin of victory confirmed the growing discontent with Prime Minister Janez Jansa's conservative cabinet and would boost the opposition social democrats ahead of a parliamentary election due in autumn 2008.
All Slovenia's presidents have been left wingers since the country quit communist Yugoslavia in 1991.