Environmentalist party leads in Slovenia's election with 35.8% of vote -exit poll

A man casts his vote during the parliamentary election at a polling station in Grosuplje, Slovenia April 24, 2022. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic

The Environmentalist Freedom Movement party looked on course to win Slovenia's parliamentary election on Sunday as an exit poll by the Mediana agency showed the party leading with 35.8% of the vote, ahead of populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa's SDS party.

The SDS had secured 22.5% of the vote, the poll showed. Whichever party wins will have to secure coalition partners to form a new government. The two main left-leaning parties have ruled out serving in a coalition led by the SDS.

(Reporting by Katja Lihtenvalner, writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; editing by Susan Fenton)