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After the Socialist victory of Ivo Josipovic in Croatias Presidential elections on Monday, how has the Slovenian reaction been? Guide2Slovenia looks at how the main political parties in Slovenia have been responding...

Slovenian reaction has been both positive and negative to the election of leftist Josipovic in Croatia on Monday....Left wing parties have welcomed the change from conservative to socialist stating relations will be better with Croatia because of it though right wing parties have not been so excited at the change.

The Social Democrats who are currently in power issued a press release and said that they believed that Josipovic would act for the good of Croatia and would also work well with Slovenia and in a pro-European manner. Interestingly, they have also said that the party believes that Josipovic will lead Croatia into the EU. They finished by saying that Josipovic's victory was also a "great victory for Croatia's social democracy and for the SDP".

The coalition Liberal Democrats (LDS) view is fairly similar in that it thinks Josipovic will take Croatia further towards the EU and that he would also encourage a constructive contribution to relations with Slovenia.

The main opposition party, the Democrats (SDS) however, frostily said they do not expect anything to change in terms of "neighbourly relations" and that the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia would remain an issue. A statement on the party website made reference to Josipovic's intention to respect the current situation and view of the parliament which has "adopted a unilateral statement which says that Slovenia was not entitled to a territorial junction with open seas."

The other opposition party - the National Party (SNS) has also given a fairly negative reaction saying that relations between Slovenia and Croatia will remain the same - leader Zmago Jelincic said "the fact is that the border dispute will not get solved... because Josipovic will maintain his position and not give in".

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