Weapons aid for Ukraine is shaky
Former Prime Minister Fico leads in Slovakia
October 1, 2023, 4:52 a.m
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Contrary to initial forecasts, the left-wing nationalist Social Democrats of the former long-term head of government are likely to become the strongest force in the parliamentary elections in Slovakia, a neighboring country in Ukraine. Fico promised voters to stop arms aid to Kiev.
According to partial results from early this morning, the populist Smer-SD party is ahead in the early parliamentary elections in Slovakia. The party of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has spoken out against further military aid for Ukraine, has 23.7 percent after counting more than 90 percent of the votes. The liberal party Progressive Slovakia led by EU Vice President Michal Simecka, which was seen as the winner in post-election polls in the evening, received 15.7 percent of the vote.
The election in the Eastern European country with 5.4 million inhabitants was seen as a landmark for democracy in Slovakia and its positioning towards Russia and the EU. It was therefore questionable whether the EU and NATO member state would continue its military aid to Ukraine in the fight against Russia unabated. Slovakia has, among other things, delivered MiG fighter jets to Kiev. Smer-SD leader Fico had announced that he wanted to stop military aid to Ukraine.
Resignation after murder of critical journalist
Fico was head of the Slovakian government from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. In 2018 he had to resign after the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancé. Kuciak had researched connections between the Italian mafia and Fico’s ruling party. In the years that followed, however, there was no calm in Slovakian politics; since 2018 there have been a total of four prime ministers.
The election, which began on Saturday morning, ended late in the evening. Instead of 10 p.m. as planned, the last polling stations closed three quarters of an hour later. The reason for this were problems in individual polling stations where election commission members had health problems. According to the law, interruptions in voting must be compensated for by a corresponding extension of the voting time.
Difficult government formation expected
The gap between the two parties is likely to narrow until all votes are counted. First, the smaller municipalities in which the Fico party is traditionally strong were completed. However, Bratislava and the other cities where the counting takes longer are considered liberal strongholds. The voter turnout was provisionally 67.9 percent.
However, it will not be easy for Fico’s Smer party to form a coalition with a sufficient majority. Above all, she needs the more liberal Social Democrats, who split off from her under former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, as partners. This party, called “Voice – Social Democracy” (Hlas-SD), is a possible coalition partner for both Smer-SSD and PS. With a count of 95 percent, Hlas-SD was in third place with 15.3 percent. Unlike Fico, Pellegrini is in favor of military aid to Ukraine.