The leader of an anti-migrant party was sworn in as prime minister of Slovenia on Tuesday, despite a street protest and warnings that he could push an anti-democratic agenda.
Fifty-two MPs out of 90 voted to approve Janez Jansa - who has led two previous governments but was forced to step down as premier in 2013 over a corruption scandal.
"We are not promising miracles but a lot of work and efforts for the common good," the 61-year-old said in his address in parliament earlier Tuesday.
Mr Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) is leading a four-party coalition expected to push a harder line on immigration - mostly from the Middle East and central Asia - than the previous centre-left government in the Alpine nation of 2 million inhabitants.
"It's clear that we will not be adjusting ourselves to a civilisation that does not recognise women's equality, the separation of the state and the Church, the religious freedom and criminalises same-sex partnership," Mr Jansa said.
He described these as the "boundaries that will not be crossed".
The founder of Modern Centre Party (SMC), Miro Cerar, quit his own party on Monday in protest at its decision to enter a coalition with the SDS.
Janez Jansa, right-wing opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) leader speaks to reporters. Source: AAP
Hundreds also protested against the new government on Friday, while dozens of university professors and academics in an open letter said it "could lead Slovenia into the group of EU states that have been blacklisted for breaching the fundamental principles of democracy".
A long-time leader of the anti-migrant SDS and ally of Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Mr Jansa was given a two-year jail sentence for bribery in 2013.
The conviction was later overturned by the Constitutional Court, which ordered a retrial - but that could not take place as too much time had elapsed.
The previous centre-left government fell in January when prime minister Marjan Sarec, a 42-year-old former comedian, stepped down amid infighting in his minority five-party coalition.
SDS won the most votes in the last election in 2018, but Mr Jansa failed to win over sufficient allies at that time, paving the way for Mr Sarec to become Slovenia's youngest-ever prime minister.
