Slovakia – The early parliamentary elections that took place in Slovakia on Saturday 30 September paved the way for a comeback of former prime minister Robert Fico and his Smer party to power in Bratislava.
Gains for Social Democrats, Progressive Slovakia, Christian Democrats and the National Party
According to the last results of the ballot, Fico’s social democratic Smer-SD got 22.9% of the votes and 42 seats in the new elected National Council (Parliament). That is 4.7 pp and 4 seats more than at the last elections 2020. This time, Smer-SD leads ahead of Progressive Slovakia (Progresívne Slovensko, PS), the party co-founded by Slovakian president Zuzana Čaputová, with 18% of the votes (+11.1 pp) and 32 seats (+32), followed by the also social democratic Hlas-SD, founded 2020 by former members of Smer lead by former prime minister Peter Pellegrini, with 14,7% and 27 seats, then Igor Matovič’s OĽaNO (Ordinary People), the party that won the last election and now slumped to 8.9% (-16.1 pp) and 16 seats (-37); by the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) with 6.82% (+2.2 pp) and 12 seats (+12); by Richard Sulík’s liberal party Freedom and Solidarity (Sloboda a Solidarita, SaS) with 6,3% (+0.1 pp) and 11 seats (-2); and by the ultranationalist Slovak National Party (Slovenská národná strana, SNS) with 5.6% (+2.4 pp) and 10 seats (+10).
Losses for OĽaNO and Sme Rodina – Collapse for Our Slovakia
Among the other parties that did not win any seat in the new elected National Council, let’s evoke the spectacularly breakthrough of the right wing party Hnutie Republika, founded 2021 by former members of Our Slovakia, who got 4.8% of the votes (+4.8 pp); the good results of the Hungarian party Szövetség (Alliance) who got 4.4% of the votes (+0.5 pp) and quite high results in the South of the country where the Hungarian minority is quite strong; the very bad result of the new party Demokrati of former prime minister Eduard Heger (2021-2023); and the total collapse of Boris Kollár’s populist party Sme Rodina (We are family) with only 2.2% of the votes (+6.0 pp).
Towards a coalition of Smer and Hlas with Christian Democrats or with the SNS…
According to these results most of the observers are now expecting the quick forming of a new coalition government with both social democratic parties Smer-SD and Hlas-SD with either the Christian Democrats of the KDH or the nationalists of the SNS as junior partners for the coming days.
The probable comeback of Robert Fico to power would definitely reinforce the anti-Brussels camp within the EU currently represented by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki… the latter having to face himself a parliamentary election on 15 October.
