The president of Slovenia has called early parliamentary elections on December 4, after Prime Minister Borut Pahor's minority center-left government was ousted in a no-confidence vote last week.

President Danilo Turk made the announcement Wednesday, saying he will dissolve the Alpine state's 90-member parliament on October 21. It will be Slovenia's first snap election since declaring its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

The government's popularity had fallen over the past year due to rising unemployment, slow economic recovery and disagreements with its junior coalition partners.

Last week Moody's credit agency downgraded Slovenia's rating one notch from Aa3 to Aa2 and placed the country's debt on negative outlook, because of political uncertainty and slow reforms. That means Moody's could review the rating and cut it again.

Pre-election polls show the center-right coalition led by opposition and former prime minister Janez Jansa is the favorite to win the upcoming vote.