Slovakia, a country in Central Europe with about half of Portugal’s population, is not a country that regularly appears in the international media. It happened this year, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the separation of Czechoslovakia. And now with the parliamentary elections, which take place today. It has all the ingredients to make news: in addition to the unpredictability of the outcome, the favorite is a populist with a pro-Russian and NATO-critical speech who, opponents and observers say, wants to return to power to take revenge.
Robert Fico, 59 years old, has been one of the most important players in Slovak politics for more than twenty years. Former communist theoretically converted to social democracy. He founded SMER and led the government twice, between 2006 and 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He was forced to resign after the largest demonstrations since the Velvet Revolution, prompted by the executions of journalists. Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirová. Kuciak investigated links between members of the government and the ‘Ndrangheta, the mafia with origins in Calabria.
In the elections that followed, SMER was swept into opposition, with the winning party, OLaNO, retaliating with a speech on the fight against corruption. Since then, dozens of high-ranking officials, magistrates, politicians, businessmen and police officers have been tried and convicted. In the current situation, Fico himself and his Minister of the Interior Robert Kalinák were accused of creating and leading a criminal group in the performance of their duties. Specifically, they seized the tax information of the previous president, Andrej Kiska, and the leader of OLaNO and former Prime Minister, Igor Matovic, to use as a political weapon.
However, last November, after the majority of deputies refused to waive their immunity, the attorney general dropped the charges. Fico was indeed arrested, but for organizing a demonstration against the restrictions in place during the pandemic.
With the exception of unconditional support for Ukraine, the coalition of four party formations disagreed on everything else. In the summer of 2022, one of the parties, SaS, left, resulting in the loss of the parliamentary majority and later its fall following a vote of no confidence. Since December, the country has been maintained by management governments. It is in this context, with an unenviable financial and economic situation (this year the deficit will exceed 6% of GDP, in addition to inflation) and an audiovisual panorama permeable to misinformation, that Robert Fico rehearses his return .
“We are a peaceful country, we will not send ammunition to Ukraine again. In any case, they will have to sit down at the table and come to an agreement. Russia will never leave Crimea, it will never leave the areas it controls .” Robert Fico
The former Prime Minister embodies the opinion of the majority of the population: distrustful of the government and President Zuzana Caputová, of the media and, in a growing trend measured in the latest survey by the think tank Globsec, of the United States (50). % believe the country poses a threat to its security), NATO (42% would vote to leave the alliance) and Volodymyr Zelensky (only 31% have a positive opinion).
Regarding the origins of the war in Ukraine, almost as many Slovaks believe that it was the West that provoked Russia (34%) as those who point the finger at the invader (40%). That is why Fico said during the election campaign that he will end the supply of weapons to Kiev. Not satisfied, he left Vladimir Putin rubbing his hands when he repeated the false accusation that it was “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists who started killing Russian citizens in Luhansk and Donetsk.” He opposed the sanctions against Moscow and said he wants to review the sanctions against Moscow. defense agreement with Washington.
Polls showed that SMER had been in the lead for months, but at the end of the campaign the pro-European and liberal party PS (Progressive Slovakia) achieved a technical draw.
His candidate is Michal Simecka, 39 years old, one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, who has compared Fico to the Hungarian Orbán, but with a peculiarity: that Fico, a bit like Trump, wants to return to power to solve problems with the law and take revenge on those who threaten you.
“A return to the past, reprisals, a potential threat to the rule of law and international isolation is what Fico promises.” Michal Simecka
According to polls, which indicate a spread of votes among eight parties, the next ruler will only be chosen after an agreement has been reached with more than one party.
Source: DN
