Former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico makes a triumphant return. The man who has been head of state three times and whose last government ended due to the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak, has the opportunity to form a government again after yesterday’s elections. According to unofficial results, his Smer-social democracy party, which in its campaign promised, among other things, an end to arms supplies to Ukraine, won more than 23 percent of voters.

The pro-European liberal movement Progresívne Slovensko (PS), which had more than 17 percent of the vote, came second by a sizable margin, while opinion polls before the election suggested the two parties would have an even fight. The third party gaining around 15 percent was the Voice-Social Democracy party, whose leader Peter Pellegrini congratulated Fico and spoke about the possibility of post-election cooperation, a position that will now be key according to many commentators. In contrast, PS Chairman Michal Šimečka described the election results as a risk for the country.

A total of seven parties entered the Slovak parliament. Fourth place was occupied by the coalition of Ordinary People and Independent Figures (OĽaNO) led by former Prime Minister Igor Matovič, which received nine percent of the vote. The conservative Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) got just under seven percent, while the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) group led by Richard Sulík got just over six percent. The Slovak National Party (SNS), which remains above the five percent threshold, will be the last party to enter the lower house.

In contrast, during the extraordinarily long evening vote count, the populist Republican Party and the Alliance Party representing the Hungarian minority did not exceed the five percent threshold.

The Slovak elections were accompanied by a large turnout. More than 68 percent of voters came to the polls, the highest figure since 2002.

Fico has not commented on the election results. Pellegrini has congratulated him and stated that it makes sense for Smer to approach Hla as the first partner in forming a government, as the two parties are ideologically close parties. At the same time, he repeated that he could not imagine a cabinet in which there would be two former prime ministers, namely he and Fico. KDH chairman Milan Majerský also expressed his possible willingness to negotiate with the election winner. According to Slovak commentators, SNS could also be a potential coalition partner for Fico. To gain a majority of seats in the 150-member lower house, Smer needs at least two other parties.

Šimečka stated that the country must have a stable, pro-European government that cares about the rule of law, and ruled out cooperation with Fico as before. According to him, the negotiations in the next few days will show whether the risks arising from the election results will be realized.

The country also experienced a tense campaign period, which the moderator of a satirical podcast about Slovak politics later shrugged off in an interview with CzechCrunch. Fifth grade student, which publishes the SME newspaper, Adam Blaško. And he talked about the fact that satire on this topic makes him very sick, because in his opinion, Slovak politicians themselves are satirists.

With CTK contribution