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A member of the Slovenian parliament has stepped down after stealing a sandwich from a shop in Ljubljana where he says he was ignored by staff.

Darij Krajcic told local media he was annoyed at being "treated like air" and decided to test the supermarket's security by walking out.

The theft went unnoticed but the ruling Marjan Sarec List (LMS) party member insisted he later returned to pay.

Mr Krajcic has apologised, saying he regretted his "social experiment".

His initial admission became public when he shared the anecdote with parliamentary colleagues in a committee meeting on Wednesday.

"I must have stood some three minutes by the counter," the 54-year-old later explained to private TV channel POP.

Three supermarket employees reportedly failed to notice him as they talked among themselves, resulting in the former professor to test their attention.

"Nobody came after me, nobody yelled," he said, suggesting an over-reliance on video surveillance meant staff sometimes "overlook something".

Fellow MPs initially laughed at the story, but on Thursday, the head of LMS' parliamentary faction, Brane Golubovic, condemned Mr Krajcic's actions as "unacceptable".

"He took responsibility for it and resigned of his own accord," Mr Golubovic told the press, "in line with LMS' high ethical standards."

Mr Krajcic was elected to parliament last September, when the centre-left LMS party of Prime Minister Marjan Sarec became the senior partner in the ruling coalition.

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