Slovenia water law referendum seen as test for government

Ljubljana, Jul 11 (AP):
Slovenians were voting Sunday in a referendum on changes to the country’s water management law, in a test for the government of right-wing Prime Minister Janez Jansa.
Jansa’s government approved the amendments in March but ecologists have pushed through the referendum, saying the changes threaten the environment and water quality.
The issue has sparked a heated debate in the small European Union nation of 2 million people known for stunningly beautiful Alpine scenery and as nature-lovers. The right to water was enshrined in the country’s constitution in 2016.
At the center of the dispute is a provision regulating construction of buildings, including hotels, shops and restaurants, close to the sea, rivers or lakes.
While the government insists it has actually tightened the rules and enabled more water and flood protection funds, opponents claim the regulations favour the interests of private investors and would limit public access to water and jeopardize its quality.
The water dispute has reflected heightened political tensions in Slovenia where Jansa’s government has faced accusations of curbing democratic and media freedoms in the traditionally liberal nation.
Jansa also has faced EU scrutiny over his populist ways as Slovenia took over the bloc’s six-month rotating presidency earlier this month.
For the referendum to succeed, a majority of those who voted and at least one fifth of around 1.7 million eligible voters around 340,000 must reject the water law amendments. Early voting in care homes and several polling stations has drawn a record number of more than 84,000 citizens, suggesting high public interest in the topic.
The referendum was forced by a cluster of environmental organizations and other civil society groups joined in a Movement for Drinkable Water who collected more than 50,000 signatures.
Proponents of a referendum on Slovenia’s Waters Act have sharply criticised the organisation of early voting, alleging voter suppression had taken place.
‘We are faced with an inadmissible curtailing of voting rights,’ said Aljoša Petek of the Legal Information Centre, an NGO.
The statement came after it was revealed that the Labour Ministry had delayed providing information to care homes on how residents can cast absentee ballots, leading to protests by campaign organisers and the elderly. The ministry has apologised and attributed the delay to human error. One of the campaigners, an environmental activist from NGO Eko Krog and an organic farmer, Uros Macerl, told BIRN in an interview that the government, under public pressure, had removed one controversial amendment, which intended to allow construction of manufacturing facilities that use hazardous materials in water-protected areas.