<p>A year after his government suffered a no-confidence vote making him Slovenia's least popular politician, former premier and ex-model Borut Pahor returned to the top as the country's next president.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Pahor won 67.24 percent of votes in the run-off election, ahead of incumbent President Danilo Turk with 32.76 percent, according to a tally of 99 percent of votes.<br /><br />Over the last two months, the charismatic Pahor, 49, engaged in a US-style electoral campaign that had him working as a garbage collector, hairdresser, radio speaker and even painter.<br /><br />This helped him turn around public support in the eurozone country.<br /><br />Pahor is a politician with an exceptional capacity for survival, said analyst Matevz Tomsic from the Nova Gorica School of Advanced Social Studies faculty.<br /><br />His approach to the election included populism, showing off and "even some clown-like acts", Tomsic told AFP. "But that can be productive for some jobs," he added.<br /><br />The strategy worked, even though Pahor went against the public mood by supporting the centre-right government's unpopular austerity measures, including public sector wage reductions and social welfare cuts.<br /><br />"We need mutual confidence, mutual respect and tolerance," he said after exit polls designated him as the winner yesterday, calling for collaboration with the government.<br />"This victory is only the beginning of a new hope, a new time."<br /><br />Ahead of the run-off, Pahor revealed to AFP the key to his success.<br /><br />"I'm persistent and stick to my convictions -- to those I had then (as prime minister) and those I have now in the opposition... Such consistency is what people need now," he said.<br />"People want to have a leader who will consistently stick to his convictions regardless of the fact that it might not be useful or might not enjoy the support of the majority."<br /><br />A leading former communist official when Slovenia was still a Yugoslav republic, Pahor led the centre-left opposition Social Democrats to victory in the 2008 general elections. But he beat Prime Minister Janez Jansa's governing Slovenian Democratic Party with only a one-seat majority.</p>
<p>A year after his government suffered a no-confidence vote making him Slovenia's least popular politician, former premier and ex-model Borut Pahor returned to the top as the country's next president.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Pahor won 67.24 percent of votes in the run-off election, ahead of incumbent President Danilo Turk with 32.76 percent, according to a tally of 99 percent of votes.<br /><br />Over the last two months, the charismatic Pahor, 49, engaged in a US-style electoral campaign that had him working as a garbage collector, hairdresser, radio speaker and even painter.<br /><br />This helped him turn around public support in the eurozone country.<br /><br />Pahor is a politician with an exceptional capacity for survival, said analyst Matevz Tomsic from the Nova Gorica School of Advanced Social Studies faculty.<br /><br />His approach to the election included populism, showing off and "even some clown-like acts", Tomsic told AFP. "But that can be productive for some jobs," he added.<br /><br />The strategy worked, even though Pahor went against the public mood by supporting the centre-right government's unpopular austerity measures, including public sector wage reductions and social welfare cuts.<br /><br />"We need mutual confidence, mutual respect and tolerance," he said after exit polls designated him as the winner yesterday, calling for collaboration with the government.<br />"This victory is only the beginning of a new hope, a new time."<br /><br />Ahead of the run-off, Pahor revealed to AFP the key to his success.<br /><br />"I'm persistent and stick to my convictions -- to those I had then (as prime minister) and those I have now in the opposition... Such consistency is what people need now," he said.<br />"People want to have a leader who will consistently stick to his convictions regardless of the fact that it might not be useful or might not enjoy the support of the majority."<br /><br />A leading former communist official when Slovenia was still a Yugoslav republic, Pahor led the centre-left opposition Social Democrats to victory in the 2008 general elections. But he beat Prime Minister Janez Jansa's governing Slovenian Democratic Party with only a one-seat majority.</p>