Local politics

In the 2010 local election, Šarec ran for office of mayor of Kamnik, a town in north-central Slovenia. In a rare case among Slovenian media personalities who attempted to enter national or local politics, Šarec was successful. After finishing second in the first round, he narrowly won the runoff.^[4] After being a member of Zoran Janković's Positive Slovenia party, Šarec entered the 2014 local election with his own political list and was reelected in the first round with almost two thirds of the vote.^[6] After becoming an elected official, Šarec retired his stage personas and became fully committed to the work of the mayor.^[7]

Presidential campaign

In May 2017, Šarec announced he would run in the upcoming presidential election, to take place on October 22. Despite the media reminding him of his acting career, Šarec stated he was completely serious about the candidacy, as "the function of the president should be treated as a serious one".^[4] Criticizing the incumbent president Borut Pahor for treating the presidential function as a celebrity, Šarec was viewed as a potentially strong candidate, one who could attract the younger generation of voters and voters leaning towards the left side of political spectrum.^[8][4] In the first round of the election, Šarec won 25% of the vote, resulting in a run-off against Pahor on 12 November, in which he narrowly lost.^[9][10]

Prime Minister of Slovenia

In June 2018, Šarec participated in the parliamentary election with the List of Marjan Šarec. The party won 12.6% of the vote, resulting in 13 MPs.^[11] LMŠ became the second-biggest party in the National Assembly. On 17 August 2018, he was elected as the new head of government, leading the 13th Government of Slovenia.^[1]

On 27 January 2020, Šarec resigned from the post, following the resignation of the Minister of Finance, who resigned because of the proposed changes to the health-related legislation.^[12][13]