Elections In Slovakia. Robert Fico’s Party Wins

On Saturday, October 30, more than 4.3 million voters in Slovakia went to the polls in order to renew the composition of deputies of the unicameral Parliament. After 100% of the ballots were counted, the Direction – Social Democracy (D-SD) party, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had already led the government of this Eastern European country twice, won the early elections.
Although Fico repeatedly stated during his election campaign that he would “work to improve the lives of his fellow Slovaks, not the Russians,” the Western press made headlines with three main definitions of the winning side: the D-SD party is “pro-Russian,” Fico is a “supporter” of Putin, and military aid to Ukraine “hangs by a thread” after the victory of the “left-wing nationalist social democratic” party in Slovakia.
Voter turnout was 67.4%, the highest since 2002. According to Slovak media, public opinion was strongly influenced by the appeal of Slovak President Zuzana Čaputova, who convinced “undecided voters” to take part in the elections, emphasizing their importance for the future of Bratislava. “Unity and reconciliation in this country must extend far beyond the electoral horizon.

Parliamentary elections are not only a right, but also a great opportunity and responsibility to influence the future of our country,” she said in an interview with the Slovak newspaper Pravda.
Robert Fico’s party received about 23% of the vote in favor, and its main opponent, MEP Michal Šimečka, leader of the “pro-European liberal and pro-NATO” Progressive Slovakia movement, came second with 17.96% of the vote.
Immediately after the announcement of the voting results, Šimečka ruled out “any cooperation with Fico and his party.” Šimečka believes that the main task after the vote will be to prevent Prime Minister Fico from forming a government coalition, while respecting Fico’s right to make the first attempt. “We received 18% of the votes, the votes of half a million Slovaks. We are the second most powerful party in the National Assembly. We respect this victory, but it is bad news for the country, and it will be even worse if Fico succeeds in forming a government. Our goal is to prevent this from happening,” Šimečka said in an interview with the Slovak TV channel Ta3.
The Voice – Social Democracy party of another former prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, took third place, receiving 14.7% of voter support and, on the contrary, immediately congratulated Fico and offered itself as a “partner” for negotiations on a coalition government. “It would be logical for Fico to be the first to approach our party to negotiate a new government,” Pellegrini told reporters.
According to the Constitution of Slovakia, in addition to the three leaders, four more political forces are included in the National Council. These are the coalition of liberal parties Ordinary People and Friends led by ex-Prime Minister Igor Matovic (8.89% of the votes), the Christian Democratic Movement (6.82%), the liberal party Freedom and Solidarity (6.35%), and Slovak National Party (5.62%).
The D-SD party will occupy 42 of the 75 seats in the parliament. Slovak political scientists believe that the two social democratic parties will form a new government coalition.
Many people wonder why Fico’s party is called “pro-Russian.” Mainly because Fico said he “does not support sanctions against Russia.” He also criticized financial assistance to Ukraine and said that if his D-SD party wins the elections, “a foreign country (Ukraine – ed.) with a clown president in power” will not receive “a single cent” from Slovakia. These statements were enough for Fico to be branded in the West as a “Kremlin agent.”

In reality, Fico simply managed to capture the spread of friendly feelings towards Russia in Slovak society. According to the latest public opinion polls, “over the past two years, more than 50% of Slovaks have expressed support for Russia among the population.” At the same time, criticism of US and EU policies has become very strong. The voting results confirmed this trend, but now it remains to be seen what political line Fico will choose after returning to power: his previous government was openly pro-Western, and not pro-Russian.