Parti populaire slovène
Pogačnik first entered the Slovenian political scene in 2000, when the Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek proposed him as the candidate for Minister of Agriculture after the Slovenian People's Party left the governing coalition. However, Drnovšek's government fell before Pogačnik could be confirmed in the Parliament. In April 2004, after the Slovenian People's Party again left the government, the Prime Minister Anton Rop appointed him as Minister of Agriculture. In the 2004 Slovenian parliamentary election, Pogačnik ran unsuccessfully for Parliament on the list of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. The elections was won by the conservative opposition, and Pogačnik was replaced by the Democratic politician Marija Lukačič.