LJUBLJANA (AFP) -- Slovenia's ruling centre-right coalition parties were the overall winners in local elections after a run-off was held on Sunday in 72 of the country's 210 municipalities, according to final unofficial results Monday.

Candidates from the four coalition parties led by Prime Minister Janez Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) were elected mayors in a total of 85 municipalities, including the second-largest city of Maribor.

The ruling coalition junior partner Slovenian People's Party (SLS) had its candidates elected in 49 municipalities, including Maribor where France Kangler defeated SDS's candidate Gregor Pivec.

The SDS, which in the first round on October 22 took the mayor's post in 15 municipalities, won in 11 more municipalities on Sunday, garnering a total of 26 mayoral posts, compared with 21 at the 2002 election when it was an opposition party.

The hardest defeat was for the main opposition centre-left Liberal Democracy Party (LDS), which will appoint a total of 17 mayors, compared with 34 in 2002.

The second-largest opposition party, the leftist Social Democrats (SD), had its candidates elected in 13 municipalities, compared with 10 four years ago.

Independent candidates have been elected mayors in 67 municipalities, including the capital Ljubljana.

The main surprise at these elections happened in the first round in Ljubljana where independent candidate Zoran Jankovic, closely associated to the former president, reformed communist Milan Kucan, scored a clear victory against SD's mayor Danica Simsic, and secured a majority in the capital's council.

"The SDS registered an increase in the number of members to municipal councils elected in the first round while in the second round, they had to face a silent coalition of most parties against their candidates," Danilo Slivnik, commentator at daily Delo said. He added that both the ruling coalition and the opposition "will have to examine what was their overall score, taking into consideration how much they did invest in these elections."

In the first round, the SDS won 16.75 percent of the votes in all of the country's 210 municipalities, compared with 13.65 percent in 2002. The LDS got 14.95 percent of the votes, compared with 26.07 percent four years ago.

Turnout on Sunday was 53 percent, according to final results published by the State Electoral Commission.

This year's local elections were the first since the centre-right coalition led by Jansa won a majority in parliament in 2004 and a year ahead of the presidential elections.