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The paper discusses reasons of the failure of the Slovenian government's pension reform proposal in general referendum based on statistical analysis of public opinion polls and content analysis of referendum campaign. In the time of economic crisis and in the context of genera anti-reform mood, the pension reform bringing reduction of existing rights didn't have much chances to succeed from the very beginning. Opinion polls show that low public support t the government was crucial for the reform proposal failure. Support to the reform propos was denied by voters gravitating towards the political centre, by those who don't support the government coalition, by non-partisan voters and by those with secondary and lower education. Since they represent the largest part of the electoral body, no referendum can succeed without their support. The most important arguments used in the referendum campaign were those related to (in)justness of the proposed reform and to (un)founded macroeconomic argument for the reform. Thus, if a structural reform is put on the referendum, a high public support t the government proposing the reform and the perception that, in spite of its urgency an unpleasantness, the reform is essentially fair, are crucial conditions for its adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]