Prime minister ahead in Slovenia election

Drnovsek will most likely still face a run off

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek has won the most votes in Slovenia's presidential election, according to partial official results.

However he does not seem to have won enough support to avoid a second-round run-off.

With more than one quarter of ballots counted, results showed that Mr Drnovsek, the election favourite, had won about 45% of the vote.

His closest rival, former state prosecutor Barbara Brezigar who was expected to mount a strong challenge, has about 30% of the vote.

None of the other seven candidates won more than 10% of the vote, French news agency AFP reported.

Mr Drnovsek, who is backed by outgoing president Milan Kucan, told Slovenian radio that he was "pleased" with the provisional results but that he "expected" to go to a second round.

Transition

The election marks the end of an era for Slovenia, with the retirement of the man who led the country to independence from Yugoslavia.

Mr Kucan, the country's president since 1990 and referred to by many Slovenes as "the father of the nation", is standing down after more than a decade in office.

Mr Drnovsek was always the clear favourite; prime minister since 1992, he is credited with steering the country through its transition to a market economy.

If elected for the largely ceremonial post of president, his main task will be to take Slovenia into the European Union and Nato - negotiations are due to be completed in the next few months.

Slovenia escaped almost unscathed from the disintegration of the old Yugoslavia - its self-proclaimed war of independence in 1991 lasted 10 days and claimed a handful of lives.