Janez Janša (born September 17 1958 as Ivan Janša) is a Slovenian politician and chief of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1995. He has been the Prime Minister of Slovenia since he was elected by Parliament on November 9 2004.

In 1989, Janša was involved in the founding of the first opposition party in Slovenia, the Slovenian Democratic Union (SDZ). Following the first free elections in May 1990 he became defense minister. After the breakup of the SDZ in 1992 he became member of the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (now called Slovenian Democratic Party) and stayed defense minister until March 1994. He was again defense minister from June 2000 to November 2000 in the short-lived government of Andrej Bajuk.