5 December 2006
The reelected head of the Slovenian Jewish community, Andrej Kozar Beck, has pledged to work towards developing the community in the coming years. Kozar Beck beat off a challenge by Hannah Starman, a young graduate from Abersytwyth University in Wales, by gaining 59 per cent of the vote on Sunday. He will be serving his third term in office. Kozar-Beck stated that was of "great importance for the development of the community to finally have multiple candidates for elected positions, which is promoting dialogue and deepened cooperation." For the first time in the history of this small community there were two contenders for the office of president as well as nine candidates vying for the six-member Executive Board and six for the five-member Board of Governors. This was unprecedented in a community which used to have trouble garnering enough candidates for the elected post in the past. The new vice-president, a position which has not been filled since Uros Kolar stepped down in 2003, is Alja Klesnik, a young medical doctor from Ljubljana. And 26-year-old Mojca Cmrekar has been entrusted by the general assembly with the newly established post of secretary-general. Polona Vetrih, a renowned Slovenian actress, was elected a member of the Executive Board. There are around 600 Jews in Slovenia, of which some 150 are members of the community. The total population of Slovenia is two million.
