Slovenia rejects assisted dying law for terminally ill patients in referendum

Slovenians on Sunday rejected in a referendum a law that allowed terminally ill patients to end their lives, according to preliminary results released by the election authorities.

The near-complete count showed that around 53 per cent voted against the law while around 46 per cent supported it. The no-votes also represented more than 20 per cent of 1.7 million eligible voters in Slovenia, which is required by the election rules.

Turnout was nearly 41 per cent, the State Electoral Commission said.

“Compassion has won,” declared Aleš Primc, a conservative activist who led the campaign against assisted dying.

“Slovenia has rejected the government’s health, pension, and social reform based on death by poisoning.”

Parliament in the small European Union nation passed the law in July after voters had backed it in a nonbinding referendum last year. Primc and other opponents, however, had forced another vote on the divisive issue after collecting more than 40,000 signatures.

Sunday's outcome means that the existing law is now suspended. Advocates of assisted dying said they were disappointed but expressed conviction a new legislation will be passed in the future.

Prime Minister Robert Golob said in a press release that while the current bill was rejected the “challenge we are addressing still remains”.

“This is not a political issue, it has always been a matter of dignity, human rights, and individual choice,” he added.

The law envisaged that mentally competent people who have no chance of recovery or are facing unbearable pain have the right to assisted dying. This meant that patients would administer the lethal medication themselves after approval from two doctors and a period of consultation.

The law did not apply to people with mental illnesses.

Backers, including Golob's liberal government, have argued that the law gives people a chance to die with dignity and decide for themselves how and when to end their suffering.

Opponents included conservative groups, some doctors' associations, and the Catholic church. They insisted that the law went against Slovenia's constitution and that the state should work to provide better palliative care instead.

President Nataša Pirc Musar said upon voting on Sunday that it is “extremely important” for the citizens to go to the polls and “not only when there are parliamentary or presidential elections”.

“It is right for us as individuals to say what we think about a certain topic,” she said. “It is right for us to tell politicians what we think is right and what we think is wrong”.

Several other EU countries have already passed similar laws, including Slovenia's neighbour, Austria.