RTV Fee Abolition Now Trails by 1,354 Votes, Up From 546 on Monday

The State Election Commission (DVK) updated the results of Sunday's referendums on Friday, and the gap on the RTV fee, the household levy that funds public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, has more than doubled. According to the new data, 461,483 voters, or 49.93 percent, voted to abolish the fee, and 462,837, or 50.07 percent, voted against. Opponents of abolition therefore lead by 1,354 votes.

On Monday afternoon the gap was only 546 votes: 461,753 for abolition and 462,299 against. Since then the number of votes for abolition has fallen by 270, while the number of votes against has risen by 538. The DVK explains why the figures moved in this direction in two ways. The updated figures now include the results of postal voting in Slovenia, which were determined by the district election commissions and the commissions of the electoral units. In addition, the commissions corrected entries.

“Some changes to the referendum results were also made where the district election commissions found erroneous data entries.” (translated)

The results are not final. These are unofficial figures after 99.98 percent of ballots were counted, and on Monday the DVK will also determine the results of voting from abroad. With a gap of 1,354 votes, that is not a trivial detail.

The referendum on the RTV fee was advisory. On Sunday voters also decided on an amendment to the law on parliamentary inquiry, which was a legislative referendum, and on making social assistance conditional on socially useful work and abolishing the right to vote for citizens of third countries. These results did not change today:

- amendment to the law on parliamentary inquiry: 48.74 percent for, 51.26 percent against; - social assistance and socially useful work: 60.54 percent for, 39.46 percent against; - voting rights for citizens of third countries: 55.30 percent for abolition, 44.7 percent against.

According to the updated data, turnout at the referendums was 54.6 percent. According to RTV, the referendums cost about €9 million in total. The exact amount is not yet known, because payment will be completed only several months after the vote.