Slovenia's parliament ended a marathon special debate on bribery allegations against Prime Minister Janez Jansa Tuesday night by passing a motion of support for the government.
But after more than 11 hours of debate, lawmakers urged Slovenian police and the prosecution service to investigate with Finnish authorities and said Slovenia's defence ministry should cancel a 278-million-euro (402 million dollar) deal with Finnish defence contractor Patria if corruption allegations were proved.
During the debate, Jansa dismissed as "absurd" claims he accepted bribes in an arms scandal which could jeopardise his chances of re-election in polls to be held on September 21.
"If any of the bribery allegations are confirmed, we will call on the defence ministry to immediately invoke an anti-corruption clause and cancel the deal," the motion said.
Lawmakers backed the defence ministry's procedures, saying negotiations before signing the deal were transparent.
The motion was backed by 41 MPs out of the 54 that were present in the 90-seat parliament at the end of the debate. Eleven lawmakers voted against the motion while two small parties -- centre-left Zares and nationalist Lipa -- boycotted the vote.
Rejecting allegations he had taken kickbacks from Patria, Jansa said the country had more important things to ponder with a general election due.
"We have elections in 10 days, and whoever wins, the new government will need to know what its priorities are and what voters want. In six months' time, noone will still be talking about Patria," he said.
"Instead of discussing how we could make our lives better via elections, we're discussing about whether or not I took bribes," Jansa said.
Jansa urged lawmakers to "close the issue for the moment and reopen it as soon as any proof to these absurd accusations is published."
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec insisted the deal had been negotiated in "the most transparent way possible.
"So far, no irregularities have been found. But since the (Finnish public broadcaster YLE) report was published, everybody is talking about bribery," Erjavec said.
According to a report by Finnish public broadcaster YLE last week, the premier and other government officials allegedly took bribes before agreeing to buy 135 armoured vehicles from Patria in 2006.
It was the biggest military contract ever signed by Ljubljana.
Jansa has demanded that the broadcaster apologise.
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told lawmakers he had sent two diplomatic notes to the Finnish government warning that ties could be affected by the affair.
Rupel called on Helsinki, which owns the majority stake in Patria, "to investigate whether there was any proof to corroborate the allegations" and, if so, to make it public.
Jansa insisted he did not pressure the defence ministry during the tender for the contract or try to influence the outcome.
His centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), that called the extraordinary session, claims the centre-left opposition is trying to discredit the prime minister, the defence ministry and top army officials.
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said Slovenia had been obliged to acquire the armoured vehicles after becoming a NATO member in 2004.
The main opposition party, the Social Democrats, suggested the debate be postponed until the government came up with additional documents and reports related to the deal. But the motion was rejected by the ruling centre-right majority.
Matej Lahovnik, a member of the centre-left Zares, accused the government of turning parliament into a "pre-election boxing ring."
An opinion poll by the Slovenian newspaper Delo last week showed Jansa's party in the lead with 23 percent going into the election, with the opposition Social Democrats at 21 percent.
Since mid-May, several people have been arrested in Finland in connection with an investigation into whether Patria bribed officials to win contracts in Egypt and Slovenia.
