Zoran Janković (born 1 January 1953) is a Slovenian businessman and politician serving as Mayor of Ljubljana since April 2012.

In October 2011, he established the Positive Slovenia party, which won the plurality of votes at the early Slovenian 2011 parliamentary election.

After Janković failed to be elected as the prime minister in the National Assembly, he was re-elected as the mayor of Ljubljana and retook the position on 11 April 2012.

Janković was born in the village of Saraorci near the town of Smederevo in Serbia, then part of the Yugoslavia, to a Serb father and a Slovene mother.

In 1971, he entered the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana, from which he graduated in 1980 with the thesis "Agricultural Goods Wheelers-Dealers in Our Country" (Slovene: Prekupčevalci s kmetijskim blagom pri nas).

[3] In December 2000, Mercator opened its shops abroad for the first time, in Pula, Croatia, and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in 2002, the largest one in Belgrade, Serbia.

[3] In 1999, Janković became a member of the management board in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije, GZS), where he was appreciated as constructive and decisive.

[3] In September 2001, an article is published in Delo describing Electa as being severely indebted, not paying its subcontractors, and making profit from business with Mercator.

On 15 November 2005, the new owners removed Janković from his position for non-culpable reasons and appointed Žiga Debeljak, the financial director of Gorenje.

[4][11] Janković later accused Prime Minister Janez Janša of having conspired to achieve his removal as part of a political deal with the new owners of Mercator.

[15] At a celebration of his father's second victory at the Ljubljana local elections, his younger son Jure Janković publicly threatened to murder the Finance journalist Jaka Elikan, who investigated and wrote about the alleged corruption of the Janković family and who was present at the event; the threat was recorded by the journalists and made public.

[16] Zoran Janković publicly reacted to the threat by rejecting any use of violence and apologizing for his son's words; at the same time, however, he accused the journalist of being excessively provocative.

[17] Following the media allegations of Janković's abuse of power to create economic benefit for his son Jure, an Investigation Commission was formed by the Slovenian National Assembly, headed by the opposition MP Alenka Jeraj.

In its final report, the Commission stated that there is a reasonable suspicion that Zoran Janković abused his power as Mayor of Ljubljana.

[20] On 11 October 2011, Janković announced his candidacy for prime minister with his own party, Positive Slovenia, to "make a better world for all Slovenians, beyond current political doctrines and practices".

The influential investigative journalist Bojan Traven raised a theory, according to which Janković's entry into state politics was conditioned by the concern over the financial status of his family.

In his first responses, Janković said that the victory of his party was a proof that Slovenians wanted an efficient state and that he would focus on economic growth.

[25] On 5 January 2012, President Danilo Türk proposed Janković as the candidate to form a government to the National Assembly.

[27] However, in the evening of 9 January, LGV announced it would not support Janković as the new prime minister and also not join his coalition, due to large differences in the programs of the parties.

In a secret ballot, his candidacy only gained the support of 42 deputies, two less than expected prior to the voting, and four short of the absolute majority needed for his election.

[3] In October 2011, a whole episode of the talk political show Pogledi Slovenije, aired by the national broadcaster RTV Slovenija, was focused on Janković's alleged nepotism.

[41] In May 2012 it was revealed that the Slovene tax administration is investigating how 400 thousand out of the 15 million euros, paid by the City of Ljubljana to the Stožice Sports Park construction contractor (GREP), ended on the account of the KLM Naložbe company, which is majority-owned by Zoran Janković.