Polls suggest Janez Jansa, who was Slovenia's prime minister from 2004 to 2008, will return to the post but will need the support of smaller parties to secure a majority. According to polls, Jansa could win 31 seats in the 90-seat Slovenian parliament.

The outgoing government led by centre-left Prime Minister Borut Pahor's Social Democrats lost its majority in May amid internal policy squabbles and was ousted by parliament in September. Polls suggest that Pahor's Social democrats could win only 10 seats as against 29 which they win at the elections in 2008 when the party managed to secure the majority in parliament by forming a colaition with the Zares party, the Liberal Democrats and the Democratic Party of Pensioners.

Centre-left Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic is seen as Jansa's closest challenger for the premiership.

Some 3,400 polling stations across Slovenia will be opened until 1900 hours for a total of 1.65 million eligible voters to cast their ballots. The expected turnout is about 65 per cent.