Slovenian ex-PM Borut Pahor wins presidency Published duration 3 December 2012

media caption A number of people were injured during anti-austerity protests in Ljubljana on Friday, ahead of the vote

Former Slovenian PM Borut Pahor has won an emphatic victory in the country's presidential run-off election.

With almost all votes counted, Mr Pahor polled 67% to incumbent President Danilo Turk's 33% in a election that followed protests over the economy and alleged government corruption.

On Friday a number of people were injured as protesters clashed with police in the capital Ljubljana.

Slovenia is facing one of the eurozone's deepest recessions.

The country's economy has shrunk more than 8% since 2009.

Mr Pahor, who was prime minister until last year, won the election on the strength of a poor turnout, the BBC's Guy Delauney reports.

The indifference of the electorate - only one in three eligible voters made it to the polls - reflected popular anger at Slovenia's economic performance, our correspondent says.

image copyright AP image caption Police and protesters clashed outside the parliament building in Ljubljana

But Mr Pahor told supporters that Slovenia would emerge from the gloom.

"The moment when Slovenian men and women, citizens of Slovenia, beat this crisis - and we will beat it eventually - we will again have the confidence we felt when we established our country and we will rise among the stars of Europe."

Thirty-three people were charged with public order offences after Friday's trouble in Ljubljana, police said.

A protest that attracted thousands of people earlier in the week in the second city, Maribor, also turned violent.

Many protesters are angry at what they describe as harsh austerity measures being implemented by the current centre-right government.