The early Slovak legislative elections on Saturday September 30 put Robert Fico’s Smer party on the top step of the podium. The former populist Prime Minister is expected to make his comeback, which worries Slovakia’s European partners after a campaign by Fico with a xenophobic and pro-Russian accent.
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With our special correspondent in Bratislava, Pierre Benazet
Turnaround in the Slovak legislative elections. After the first exit polls which gave victory to the pro-European liberal centrists on Saturday October 30 evening, the final vote count placed Robert Fico’s Smer party in the lead with 23% of the vote. The populist candidate’s party, not shy of xenophobic or pro-Russian statements during its campaign, should win 42 seats out of the 150 deputies in the Národná Rada, the Slovak national parliament.
Etienne Boisserie, professor of Central European history at Inalco, considers the result surprising: “ It is a clearer victory than expected because the polls from the last days of the campaign showed a very clear rapprochement with progressive Slovakia and even two of the last four polls put them ahead. The exits from the polls put them slightly ahead and ultimately Fico won by 6 points, which is a surprising result in terms of its magnitude. »
With 18%, its direct competitor, the progressive Slovakia party of the centrist Michal Šimečka should only be able to count on 32 deputies. It is therefore Fico who will be designated by the President of the Slovak Republic to try to form a government.
President Zuzana Caputova, a former member of Progressive Slovakia and Mr. Fico’s longtime political rival, said on Sunday she would task him with forming a new government. “ In the spirit of our constitutional tradition, tomorrow I will entrust the formation of the government to the winner of the election “, she said in a press release.
Robert Fico indicated this Sunday at a press conference that he was giving himself two weeks to negotiate a government coalition with his potential partners. In the past, Robert Fico did not hesitate to ally himself with the far-right SNS party, which has already caused his party to be temporarily excluded from the Party of European Socialists.
Robert Fico: “Slovaks have bigger problems than Ukraine”
Slovakia and the people in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine. Ukraine is a huge tragedy for everyone. If the Smer party forms a government, we will do everything within the EU to find the quickest way to peace talks. (…) Continuing to kill each other does nothing for anyone. This does not change the fact that we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine and ready to help rebuild the country, but you know our opinion on military aid to Ukraine. I regret that the elections in Slovakia were seen by the media as being only about the delivery of weapons to Ukraine or not. This is not the case: people in Slovakia have serious problems, which are a priority for us.
Robert Fico: “Slovaks have bigger problems than Ukraine”
“ He is in a very favorable situationanalyzes Etienne Boisserie. A priori, it can form a coalition with the Hlass movement, which came third with around 14%, and the Slovak National Party (the SNS). With these two allies who are the most natural allies, he has a reasonable majority. I think it is inconceivable that with such a clear victory, there would not be an agreement around Fico. »
A government coalition led by Robert Fico is seen as a threat to the EU’s hard-to-maintain unity in the face of Russia. He aims to end sanctions against Moscow and ally with his Hungarian neighbor Viktor Orbán. “ There is the electoral speech and then there is what government responsibility will require to be donestill tempers Etienne Boisserie. Obviously, they are less “Ukrainophile” and less committed than the outgoing Slovak government. But at the same time, there was no questioning of the question of reception and humanitarian aid. What was discussed was the supply of weapons. »
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