workload, explaining that due to high productivity of Levica parliamentary group relative to its small size, both MPs and political aides needed to overwork in order to accomplish as many political goals as they did during their first term. In the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, The Left garnered 9.33% of the vote, winning 9 parliamentary seats. All 5 serving MPs were re-elected for second terms. Nataša Sukič (who had hitherto served as the city councilor in Ljubljana) was also elected on the party's ticket, becoming the first openly gay member of parliament in the nation's history. After the Christian conservative New Slovenia reneged on coalition talks with the five centre-left party core led by PM contender Marjan Šarec (leader of the eponymous election runner-up LMŠ party), The Left became the presumptive coalition partner in Šarec's efforts to attain a parliamentary majority. The Left's insistence on a NATO membership referendum was widely regarded as a deal-breaker for the more Atlanticist coalition core parties. Shortly after NSi's departure from coalition negotiations, however, The Left announced that it will not demand that a commitment to a NATO referendum be included in the coalition agreement. Two days after Šarec was nominated for PM by the five-party group on August 8, The Left vowed support for his candidacy. Šarec was thus confirmed as the ninth PM on August 17, ending the longest political stalemate in the nation's history while also forming the country's first minority government due to The Left's decision not to formally enter the governing coalition. In March 2020, MP Franc Trček departed the party and parliamentary group due to contentious disagreements with party leadership and internal party culture. Trček subsequently joined the Social Democrats' parliamentary group. In October 2020, The Left joined center-left opposition parties in forming the Constitutional Arch Coalition ( - KUL), an initiative promoted by the Slovenian economist Jože P. Damijan aimed at forming an alternative government by uniting centre-left opposition parties. The famous philosopher and Lacanian psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek has given his support to the party, as of early 2022. In 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election the party lost over a half of support and was one of just five parties that got elected to the parliament. After the election, the Left joined coalition of Freedom Movement and Social Democrats. Luka Mesec, coordinator of the party, became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal