The populist Social Direction Democracy (Smer-SSD) party, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, which opposes aid to Ukraine, has won parliamentary elections in Slovakia, according to the final results released in the early hours of Sunday.
According to the Slovak Statistical Office, after counting the votes of almost six thousand parliaments, Smer-SSD obtained 23.3%, ahead of the liberal party Progressive Slovakia (17.1%), led by the Vice President of the European Parliament, Michal Simecka.
Since no party has won a majority of seats in the Slovak parliament, the country’s future may depend on the party that came third with 14.9% of the vote, the Social Democrats of Hlas-SD (‘Voice’ ). , by former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, a dissident from Smer-SSD but who shares Simecka’s pro-Ukrainian position.
Another potential partner in a hypothetical government alliance with Robert Fico, the ultranationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), received 5.7% of the vote.
If he manages to form a coalition and return to power, Fico, 59 years old and a law graduate, has already pledged to “immediately halt any delivery of military aid to Ukraine” after five years of interregnum.
Something that would mark a turning point in the foreign policy of this country of 5.4 million inhabitants, a member of the European Union and NATO, and which has provided significant assistance to Kiev since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“The war in Ukraine started in 2014 when Ukrainian fascists killed civilian victims of Russian nationality,” Fico stated in a recent video, likely referring to the events at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa on May 2 of that year.
A message that resonates in a country where, according to a study by the Globsec Institute, only 40% of the population considers Russia responsible for the war.
Fico also stated that he would not condone the detention of Russian President Vladimir Putin on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if he ever came to Slovakia.
During the election campaign, Slovakia was the target of intense disinformation campaigns, with opinion polls showing that half the population is willing to believe fake news.
The Central European country is currently governed by an executive force of technocrats, led by banker Ludovit Odor, following the collapse, in a vote of no confidence in December, of a fragile anti-corruption coalition that had been in power since 2020.
Source: DN
