Slovenian President Pahor wins election but run-off expected

Slovenian President Borut Pahor won Sunday's first round of presidential elections but is heading for a run-off on November 12, partial results showed.

"It seems like a second round will be needed, as we had expected in the first place," Pahor told journalists.

He added he believed he would win the next round, saying he will convince citizens he is "the best person to be the president for the following five years".

Partial results with 83 percent of the votes counted showed Pahor winning Sunday's vote with 47.28 percent support, Kamnik mayor Marjan Sarec, a former comic actor, with a 24.86 percent.

Turnout was 41.95 percent, the lowest at any presidential election since Slovenia declared independence in 1991, according to the partial results.

Shortly after the closure of polls, state RTV Slovenija predicted Pahor would win an outright victory in the first round with a 56.2 percent support while another prediction by private POP TV gave him only 47.2 percent support.

Earlier polls had put the 53-year-old internet-savvy Pahor, first elected to the largely ceremonial presidency in 2012, close to or above the 50 percent needed for an outright victory.

Sarec was projected to get 21 percent, according to a survey in the Delo daily.

Pahor's campaign has seen him walk 700 kilometres (435 miles) around the country chatting to voters while posting photos and videos to legions of followers on social media.

Pahor stepped down as prime minister in 2011 after his government collapsed in the midst of the global financial crisis that drove Slovenia close to needing a bailout.

But the following year he won a surprise victory in presidential elections, standing as an independent candidate backed by the Social Democrats (SD) party.

The president of the small former Yugoslav republic has a mostly ceremonial role although the holder can propose and appoint some state officials and heads the army in case of war.