Slovenia has a formally democratic system of political parties, while at the same time allowing unrestricted political activity by actors outside that system. This creates a parallel, unregulated power structure and effectively destroys fair political competition.
When the multiparty system was established, the legislator—out of fear of influence from expatriates—banned the financing of political parties from abroad. Later, during the government of Alenka BratuĊĦek, private financing of political parties was further restricted, this time out of fear of economic influence.
Today, political parties are subject to strict and multi-layered regulation.
Their financing is limited and transparent. They are prohibited from operating within companies. They may conduct political campaigns only during a precisely defined pre-election period. They are legally required to maintain internal democracy. Their candidate lists must comply with mandatory gender quotas.
At the same time, however, Slovenia hosts non-governmental organizations that in practice engage exclusively in political activity, yet fall under none of these regimes.
These organizations enjoy unlimited private financing, often exceeding that of the largest political parties. They receive unlimited foreign funding, including from sources internationally known for exerting political influence and destabilizing states. They operate with opaque financial statements and insufficient public oversight. They enjoy full access to the main media, including regular and unrestricted appearances. They face no temporal, financial, or substantive limits on political campaigning. They actively cooperate with trade unions, which already hold a privileged institutional position within companies.
The result is a systemic anomaly: political parties are strictly regulated, while their competition does not exist within the same legal framework. A parallel political system has been created—“political parties without constraints”—operating outside democratic rules yet exercising real political power.
This is not a pluralist democracy. It is a system in which the law is applied selectively to restrain transparent political opposition, while unregulated actors are granted unlimited power.
This is Belarus under the Alps.