Slovakia: Liberal Progressive Party probably strongest force in parliamentary elections | EUROtoday

Surprise in the parliamentary elections in Slovakia: According to forecasts, the liberal celebration Progressive Slovakia will emerge because the strongest force in the vote. The left-wing populist Fico’s Smer-SSD celebration solely got here in second.

As anticipated, the early parliamentary elections in Slovakia are shaping as much as be a detailed race. Post-election polls late Saturday night confirmed a slight lead for the liberal celebration Progressive Slovakia (PS) led by EU Vice-Parliament President Michal Simecka. According to TV Markiza it reached 23.5 p.c and in response to RTVS virtually 20 p.c. So far, the PS has not even been represented in parliament.

Former Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer celebration, which was barely forward in polls earlier than the election, achieved 21.9 p.c in response to TV Markiza and 19.1 p.c in response to RTVS. The outcomes needs to be identified by Sunday morning.

Formation of presidency might be tough

Given the anticipated final result, forming a authorities is prone to be tough. Simecka must depend on coalition companions to realize a majority in the 150-seat parliament in Bratislava.

The extra liberal Social Democrats beneath former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, who cut up off from the Fico celebration, at the moment are prone to tip the scales. This celebration, known as “Voice – Social Democracy” (Hlas-SD), along with small bourgeois events, might assist the PS obtain a snug majority – or forestall it.

The election was seen as a landmark for democracy in the nation and its positioning in direction of Russia and the EU. It was due to this fact questionable whether or not the EU and NATO member state would proceed its navy assist to Ukraine in the combat in opposition to Russia unabated. Slovakia has, amongst different issues, delivered MiG fighter jets to Kiev. Smer-SD chief Fico had introduced that he wished to cease navy assist to Ukraine.

Fico resigned after journalist homicide

Fico was head of the Slovakian authorities from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. In 2018 he needed to resign after the homicide of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancé. Kuciak had researched connections between the Italian mafia and Fico’s ruling celebration. In the years that adopted, nevertheless, there was no calm in Slovakian politics; since 2018 there have been a complete of 4 prime ministers.

After the collapse of the center-right authorities, a transitional authorities made up of technocrats and civil servants has been in workplace since May.

Slovakia was flooded with a flood of misinformation in the course of the election marketing campaign. Around 4.4 million residents had been known as upon to elect a brand new parliament. The election, which started on Saturday morning, ended late in the night. Instead of 10 p.m. as deliberate, the final polling stations closed three quarters of an hour later. The motive for this had been issues in particular person polling stations the place election fee members had well being issues. According to the regulation, interruptions in voting have to be compensated for by a corresponding extension of the voting time.