Slovenia’s parliament approves newcomer as premier

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s parliament has approved political newcomer Miro Cerar as the crisis-stricken eurozone country’s next prime minister.

The parliament on Monday voted 57-11 in Cerar’s favor to replace former Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek.

Cerar’s new center-left SMC party convincingly won parliamentary elections in July. He now has 14 days to form a government before the assembly votes again on the entire cabinet.

Slovenia plunged into financial turmoil during the eurozone debt crisis. Once the most prosperous of the eastern European states, the small Alpine nation narrowly avoided international bailout.

Cerar, a legal expert who is the son of Olympic gymnastics medalist Miroslav Cerar, has in the pre-election campaign opposed some EU backed austerity measures, including the privatization of some state-run companies.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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