LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will hold regular local elections on October 5, less than three months after a snap general election called to avert a new political crisis in the euro zone member state.
The country, which narrowly avoided an international bailout last year, will choose administrations for 212 local communities. The date was announced by parliament speaker Janko Veber on Tuesday.
On July 13, voters will choose a new parliament in a second snap election in a row, called after Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek resigned, having lost a battle for leadership of the Positive Slovenia party.
A new centre-left SMC party, led by law professor and political newcomer Miro Cerar, looks set to win the most votes in the July ballot, according to opinion polls which put it well ahead of the main opposition Slovenian Democratic Party and all other parties.
Bratusek's outgoing centre-left government in December managed to avert the need for outside aid by pumping some 3.3 billion euros into local banks, which have piled up a large amount of bad loans through years of reckless lending.
(Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic)
