Riding Orbán's Electoral Playbook To Victory In Slovenia

The trend across Europe is clear these days: right-wing populist parties, many of which hold strongly anti-immigration views, are seeing unprecedented success at the ballot box. Slovenia's parliamentary elections, which took place on Sunday, proved to be another data point on this front. The anti-immigration Slovenian Democratic party (SDS), led by Janez Janša, came in first with 25 percent of the vote.

In this piece, the author explores the parallels and rhetorical similarities between Janša and Viktor Orbán, Hungary's self-described "illiberal" prime minister who is the main face of anti-EU, anti-immigration rhetoric in Europe. Like Orbán, Janša ran his party's campaign on a program of starkly anti-immigration rhetoric; the pair are even so close that Orbán himself came to support Janša on the campaign trail.

As political parties across Europe figure out how to navigate this new political landscape, the SDS victory in Slovenia is proof that others will turn to Orbán's political playbook as a model for electoral success.