On October 3rd, the battle for Slovenia’s parliament begins. (source)

Parliamentary elections are this Sunday. If you still don’t know who to vote for, I don’t blame you. Eighteen parties are in this race and at least six of them will make it into parliament. An additional two may be joining them. In other words, flipping a coin won’t help you.

Luckily, RTV has designed a quiz to help you decide what political party best matches your opinions. Answer 24 questions (and you can skip the ones you want) to see where you are on Slovenia’s political spectrum. (Thanks to Dejan for the link!)

Although I can’t vote, I have been busy taking pictures of the many campaign posters around town. About 90% of them consist of just a face, and none of them struck me as particularly original or eye-grabbing. Nevertheless, there were some winners among them, which is why I’m proud to present to you, for the first time, The Carniola Awards for Election Posters 2004!

1. MOST LIKELY TO BE MISTAKEN FOR AN ARMANI ADVERTISEMENT

The Winner: SaÅ¡o PeÄ?e
The Party: SNS
The Verdict: This is the only campaign poster that could have something like “Giorgio Armani: The 2004 Fall/Winter Collection” written at the bottom and not look out-of-place.

2. WORST CAMPAIGN SLOGAN

The Winner: “Slovenija, zbudi se!” (Slovenia awake!)
The Party: June List (Female Voice, ZZP, ZNS, NDS)
The Verdict: The first rule of politics is to avoid any kind of connection with the Nazis, and most of the time that’s pretty easy to do. In other words, don’t use swastikas, don’t play the Horst Wessel Lied at rallies, and if you’re a male, don’t grow a little Hitler-moustache. June List has done a good job with all of these things, but a not-so-good job picking their slogan, which sounds like the Nazi slogan Deutschland, erwache! (Germany, awake!) See: here, here, here, here, here and here.

3. MOST UNCONVINCING CAMPAIGN POSTER

The Winner: Whoever put this little sticker on a lamppost somewhere.
The Party: Who cares?
The Verdict: This is about as effective as writing “vote 4 me!!!” on the wall of an abandoned public toilet.

4. MOST TROUBLED LOOK

The Winner: Marjan VraniÄ?ar
The Party: SDS
The Verdict: In the days of photoshop and airbrushing, there’s no excuse for these creepy-looking campaign posters. I can’t tell if this gentleman is about to smile or frown or try to cannibalize someone.

5. WORST ATTEMPT AT LOOKING CASUAL

The Winner: Zdravko and friends.
The Party: NSi
The Verdict: NSi has a whole series of posters featuring awkwardly staged events that are meant to look casual. In this case, we are meant to believe that Zdravko was just telling a funny joke in the park when a photographer snapped this picture.

6. BEST SURNAME IN A POSTER

The Winner: Gregor Jeza (Gregory Angry)
The Party: SDS
The Verdict: It’s a shame he didn’t capitalize more on his name. Just think of all the possible slogans. By the way, I also like the symbolism of the torn poster. It’s like some kind of Buddhist lesson.

7. MOST UNFORTUNATE COMBINATION OF CANDIDATE AND PARTY NAME

The Winner: Saliji Ä?elil
The Party: Slovenija je naša (Slovenia is ours)
The Verdict: It’s hard having a foreign-sounding name in Slovenia, but even harder to put it next to the party name “Slovenia is ours!” without amusing people.

8. MOST SERIOUS STARE, USED TO DISGUISE THE LEAST-SERIOUS CANDIDATE

The Winner: Maša Merc
The Party: SDS
The Verdict: MaÅ¡a Merc is a 22-year-old former Miss Slovenia. Some people think that’s not enough to serve in the highest levels of government. I say: “Why not?” Her curriculum vitae shows that she’s been rigorously preparing herself for the demands of legislation:

“During the last few years I spent my free time skiing, dancing and reading books that broaden my horizon.”

You see? Books. Lots of books. Maybe not Hobbes’ Leviathan, or Aristotle’s Politics or even Machiavelli’s The Prince but close: The Little Prince is among her all-time favorite books. And, in case you were wondering, her favorite actor is John Malkovich.

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NOTE: The posters chosen don’t reflect my political opinions. I did photograph some LDS posters (the ruling party in Slovenia) but didn’t have anything to say about them. Maybe next election…