In door-to-door polls, Progressive Slovakia (PS) would win the election and the pro-Russian Smer would come second.
In Slovakia’s early parliamentary elections, the liberal Progressive Slovakia party is taking a narrow victory based on door-to-door polls.
Western-minded Michal Šimečka led by Progressive Slovakia (PS), based on a door-to-door poll by the public broadcaster RTVS, would get about 20 percent of the votes, and the national conservative, left-wing populist Smer party would come second with 19 percent. Based on a poll by television channel Markiza, PS’s vote share would be 23.5 percent and Smer’s just under 22 percent.
Smer is led by a former prime minister Robert Fico, who has campaigned with a pro-Russian, anti-American message and promised to end all Slovak arms aid to Ukraine. PS’s pro-EU Šimečka, on the other hand, has campaigned for supporting Ukraine.
When the votes had been counted in about 30 percent of the voting areas, Smer’s vote share was just under 25 percent and PS was only third with less than 13 percent. However, the voting districts completed first are from small districts, where Smer was expected to be strong. Large voting areas located in larger cities are predicted to lean towards the PS.
Since no party seems to be gaining a majority in parliament, the country should be able to form a coalition government. The task is expected to be difficult for both leading parties.
Based on the door-to-door polls, it would seem that the leftist Hlas, which broke away from Smer, will end up as the third largest party with an 11-12 percent vote share. According to polls, seven or eight parties would exceed the 5 percent vote threshold required for parliamentary representation.
Updated at 2:57 a.m. with the first official results.
Sources: AP, Reuters