By Marja Novak
    LJUBLJANA, March 27 (Reuters) - Slovenia will hold a second
referendum on May 13 on whether to build a 1 billion-euro
railway line after a court annulled a previous referendum, the
State Election Commission said on Tuesday.
    At the previous referendum, in September, 53.5 percent of
voters backed construction of a 27-kilometre rail line between
the city of Divaca and the state-owned port Luka Koper
 LKPG.LJ , which was the biggest investment project of the
outgoing centre-left government.
    The result was annulled after Vili Kovacic, the head of the
civil society group Taxpayers Don't Give Up, complained to the
court, saying the government had an advantage in the referendum
because it spent 97,000 euros of budget funds on its campaign 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1QW5Z2
    The referendum was initiated by Kovacic's group, which
argued that the line, as designed by the government, was too
expensive and asked voters to reject the project. 
    The court's decision prompted Prime Minister Miro Cerar to
resign, and the country is expected to hold a parliamentary
election on May 27 or June 3. President Borut Pahor will
announce the election date next month  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1QW7T8.
    The government has so far received 44.3 million euros 
($54.86 million) of European Union funding for track
preparation, and neighbouring Hungary has said it was willing to
invest about 200 million euros in the project, since it relies
on the port of Koper for much of its seaborne freight.
    In an opinion poll published by the newspaper Delo earlier
this month, 65 percent of participants supported the project.
    Kovacic said on Tuesday he will complain to the
Constitutional Court because he believes the referendum should
be held on the date of the general election or on the date of
the November local election, which would increase turnout.

($1 = 0.8075 euros)

 (Reporting By Marja Novak, editing by Larry King)
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805, Reuters
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))