After 2004
In the legislative election on 3 October 2004, the party won 6.8% of the popular vote and 7 out of 90 seats. Led by Janez Podobnik, the brother of former chairman Marjan Podobnik, the party entered in the centre-right government of Janez Janša.
In 2007, the mayor of Celje Bojan Šrot replaced Marjan Podobnik as president of the party. This change in leadership coincided with a policy shift. Upon his election, Šrot announced he wanted to transform the SLS in the largest center-right party in Slovenia, thus challenging the primacy of Janez Janša's Slovenian Democratic Party. Šrot started criticizing some of the neo-liberal reforms launched by Janša's government, and especially Janša's "anti-tycoon" policies, aimed against concentration of wealth in the hands of a small group of executive managers of privatized former state-owned firms. One of these "tycoons" was also Boško Šrot, Bojan Šrot's brother, and CEO of the Laško Brewery company.
In the 2008 election the SLS ran a joint list with the Youth Party of Slovenia. In the electoral campaign, the party tried to distance itself from its former coalition allies. The joint list secured only 5 seats and 5.2% of the vote, a loss of 2 compared to the results of the SLS in 2004.
In 2009, Radovan Žerjav, former Minister of Transport in Janez Janša government, replaced Šrot as the leader of the party. Under his leadership, the SLS adopted a more moderate rhetorics. After 11 years in power, the party stayed in opposition, trying to forge an image of a constructive opposition party, supporting moderate conservative policies.
In the 2011 election, the SLS increased its support both in number of voters and in percentage, thus reversing the falling trend for the first time after the 2000 election.
SLS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Parliamentary representation:
Read more about this topic: Slovenian People's Party