Former Prime Minister Fico only second
Forecast: EU MP in Slovakia in the lead
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Former Slovak Prime Minister Fico wanted to stop aid to Ukraine if the citizens helped him back to power. However, on election evening it looks like there will be a real surprise. According to a forecast, the election winner could be the EU MP Simecka.
According to a forecast, the liberal party “Progressive Slovakia” (PS), which has not yet even been represented in parliament, has surprisingly won the parliamentary elections in Slovakia. According to this unofficial result, which was published late in the evening by the private television station TV Markiza, the Liberals, led by EU Vice-Parliament President Michal Simecka, achieved 23.5 percent.
The left-wing national opposition party “Towards – Slovak Social Democracy” (Smer-SSD), led by former long-term head of government Robert Fico, which was leading in the polls for months, came in second place with 21.9 percent. The more liberal Social Democrats under former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, who split off from the Fico party, are now likely to tip the scales. This party, called “Voice – Social Democracy” (Hlas-SD), together with small bourgeois parties, could help the PS achieve a comfortable majority – or prevent it. In the latter case, however, there would be a risk of a stalemate because Smer would have difficulty finding the coalition partners needed other than Hlas.
Ukraine aid unpopular with the population
Around 4.4 million citizens were called upon to elect a new parliament. The EU and NATO country Slovakia borders directly on Ukraine and has so far been one of the most determined political and military supporters of the neighboring country attacked by Russia. However, Fico had announced that he would end the arms aid program, which was unpopular with the population, if he came back to power.
Surprisingly, TV Markiza published the forecast before the official election deadline, but without initially specifying the party names. According to the law, it is forbidden to publish election results until the last polling station has closed.
The election, which began on Saturday morning, ended late in the evening late in the evening. Instead of 10 p.m. as planned, the last polling stations closed three quarters of an hour later. The reason for this were problems in individual polling stations where election commission members had health problems. According to the law, interruptions in voting must be compensated for by a corresponding extension of the voting time.
