Photo: AP/Scanpix/LETA
The left-wing party “Direction – Social Democracy” (“Smer-SD”), led by the populist ex-premier Robert Fico, won Saturday’s early parliamentary elections in Slovakia, which wants to end military aid to Ukraine, is critical of the European Union and NATO, and calls for the lifting of sanctions against Russia , according to the preliminary election results announced on Sunday.
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After counting the votes in 99% of the precincts, it was found that “Smer-SD” won 23.3% of the votes, thus it will have 42 deputies in the 150-seat parliament.
In second place is the social liberal party “Progressive Slovakia” led by the vice-speaker of the European Parliament Michal Šimečka, which received 17% of the vote.
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The 59-year-old Fico has promised that Slovakia will stop supplying arms to Ukraine and has also called for improved relations with Russia.
Analysts predict that Fico’s government could radically change Slovakia’s foreign policy and its position could resemble that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
One of the potential partners of the “Smer-SD” coalition is the left-wing party “Voice – social democracy” (“Hlas – SD”), which broke away from the party led by Fico in 2020 and is led by the former deputy chairman of “Smer-SD” Peters Pellegrini. It is expected to win 27 seats.
The two parties could form a coalition with the nationalist right-wing Slovak National Party (SNS). It is expected to have 10 seats in the new parliament, giving the three parties a total of 79 seats.
Fico has twice previously formed a government with the SNS, which also opposes military aid to Ukraine.
Slovak President Zuzana Čaputova said on Sunday that on Monday she will instruct Fico to form the next government in accordance with the tradition that the formation of the cabinet of ministers is first entrusted to the representative of the political force that won the most votes in the elections.
“In the spirit of our constitutional tradition, tomorrow I will entrust the formation of the government to the winner of the elections,” said Čaputova’s statement.
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The new parliament will also include the conservative party “Ordinary people and independent personalities” (“OĽaNO”) led by former prime minister Igor Matovič, the liberal party “Freedom and Solidarity” (“SaS”), as well as the center-right Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
The new government will replace the unstable center-right coalition, which has been in power since 2020 and during which three cabinets of ministers were formed.
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2023-10-01 15:46:54
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