Ljubljana, Slovenia: With Italy plunged into political turmoil, its tiny eastern neighbour in the euro region is trying to stay out of it.

Slovenia holds elections on June 3 and an anti-immigrant former prime minister is leading the polls. It's unlikely, though, that he will have enough support to regain power for a third time and opponents are maneuvering to keep him out of office.

The former Yugoslav state became the first former communist country in the region to join the euro zone in 2007 and has been a stable ally of Germany and the European Union establishment. But as Italian nationalist parties prevail next door, Slovenia now finds itself sandwiched, between a country in political chaos and rogue EU member Hungary, with a choice to make.

At the centre of the struggle are Janez Jansa, an ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his "illiberal democracy," and Marjan Sarec, a comedian-turned-mayor who has vowed to sweep out a political elite that's held sway since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The latest opinion polls put Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party on 25 per cent as he plays on concern about an influx of refugees. Sarec's group is second on 16 per cent and the Social Democrats, whose leader has left open the possibility of forming a government with Sarec, on 14 per cent.