Overview
- Preliminary results show about 53 percent voted against and 47 percent in favor, with turnout at 40.9 percent meeting the requirement that the rejecting majority represent at least 20 percent of eligible voters.
- Parliament had passed the law in July after a 2024 consultative referendum, but a citizens’ initiative forced the repeat vote by submitting roughly 46,000 signatures, above the 40,000 required.
- The shelved measure would have allowed mentally competent, terminally ill adults to self-administer lethal medication after approvals by two doctors and a consultation period, explicitly excluding mental illness cases.
- Campaigners led by Ales Primc and backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition hailed the outcome, while Prime Minister Robert Golob had urged support as a matter of dignity and personal choice.
- With implementation suspended for at least a year, Slovenia remains outside European countries that allow assisted dying or euthanasia such as Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as France and the UK continue legislative debates.