Pro-Russian ex-PM Fico wins Slovak election, needs allies for government

BRATISLAVA – Slovakia’s leftist former prime minister Robert Fico beat his progressive rival in a parliamentary election after campaigning to end military aid to Ukraine, but he will need to win over allies to form the next government, nearly complete results showed on Sunday.

With 98 per cent of voting districts reporting in the Saturday election, Mr Fico’s SMER-SSD party led with 23.37 per cent of the vote. The liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) followed with 16.86 per cent and the HLAS (Voice) party, which could become the kingmaker in forming the next government, was third with 15.03 per cent.

Leftist HLAS leader Peter Pellegrini, a former colleague of Mr Fico, kept his options open on future coalitions.

A government led by Mr Fico and his SMER-SSD party would see Nato member Slovakia joining Hungary in challenging the European Union’s consensus on support for Ukraine, just as the bloc looks to maintain unity in

opposing Russia’s invasion.

It would also signal a further shift in the region against political liberalism, which may be reinforced if the conservative Law and Justice party wins an election in Poland later in October.

Mr Fico’s party is more nationalist and socially conservative, criticising social liberalism, which it says is imposed from Brussels.

The PS is liberal on green policies, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights, deeper European integration and human rights.

“We do want to evaluate everything, so we will wait for the final count,” said Mr Robert Kalinak, a SMER-SSD candidate and long-time Fico ally, adding that the party would comment on the full results later.

Exit polls had favoured PS, but the results went Mr Fico’s way, opening the prospect that he may win another stint as premier after leading governments between 2006 and 2010, and from 2012 to 2018.

The first party across the line was expected to get a mandate from President Zuzana Caputova to lead talks on forming a parliamentary majority and, if successful, a government.

Mr Fico may align with HLAS, which split from SMER-SSD in 2020, and the nationalist Slovak National Party, which won 5.68 per cent.

“The distribution of seats confirms HLAS as a party without which any normally functioning government coalition cannot be put together,” Mr Pellegrini said as most results were known. “If you ask me if we prefer any combination or coalition, I want to say not at all.”

PS has advocated maintaining Slovakia’s strong backing for Ukraine and would also likely follow a liberal line within the EU on issues such as majority voting to make the bloc more flexible, green policies and LGBT rights.

The party’s leader, Mr Michal Simecka, speaking when most votes were counted, did not give up hope that he could form the next government, depending on how possible smaller allies end up.

“It remains our aim for Slovakia to have after this election a stable pro-European government that will care for the rule of law and which begins to solve and invest into areas key for our future,” Mr Simecka, a former reporter and Oxford graduate, told supporters.

Any coalition that PS could potentially form would likely need HLAS and include more right-wing or socially conservative parties, which would blunt its socially progressive and EU-integration drive.

The incoming government in the nation of 5.5 million will take over a ballooning budget deficit forecast to be the highest in the euro zone.

Mr Fico has ridden on dissatisfaction with a bickering centre-right coalition, whose government collapsed in 2022, triggering the election six months early. In campaigning, he stressed concern about a rise in the number of migrants passing through Slovakia to Western Europe.

Mr Fico’s views reflect traditionally warm sentiment towards Russia among many Slovaks, which has gathered strength on social media since the Ukraine war began. He has pledged to end military supplies to Ukraine and strive for peace talks – a line close to that of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, but rejected by Ukraine and its allies, who say this would only encourage Russia.

The far-right Republika party, which was seen as a possible ally for Mr Fico but unacceptable to others, failed to win any seats.

Mr Fico was forced to resign in 2018 after mass protests against graft that followed the murder of an investigative journalist.

Mr Pellegrini, a SMER-SSD member at the time, took over for him and led the government until 2020, when centre-right parties pledging to weed out graft swept an election. But their government collapsed in 2022 after internal bickering, opening the way to Saturday’s early election.

Analysts and diplomats have said Mr Fico might tame his rhetoric if he takes power, as he did in the past. REUTERS