LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenian parliamentary speaker Matej Tonin declared local elections for November 18 in line with legislation passed last year according to which such votes will always take place on the third Sunday in November.

About 1.7 million eligible voters will choose mayors and local councils in 212 local communities for a four-year mandate.

Meanwhile the country is still waiting for a new government following the June 3 general election. President Borut Pahor on Thursday gave the largest party, the center-left Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) another week to try to form a government coalition.

SDS won 25 out of 90 parliamentary seats but has so far not managed to form a government as most other parties claim they will not go into a coalition with the anti-immigrant SDS.

The second largest party, the center-left List of Marjan Sarec, is also holding talks on forming a coalition with the conservative New Slovenia and four center-left parties but has not finalised the talks yet.