Robert Fico wins Slovakia election with anti-Ukraine stance

Receive free Slovakia updates

Anti-Ukrainian former Prime Minister Robert Fico won Slovakia’s election on Saturday, putting himself on track to form a new coalition government that could undermine Western efforts to unite to help Kiev confront Russia.

According to preliminary results released earlier on Sunday, with 98% of the votes counted, Robert Fico and his Smer party had nearly 23%, ahead of Michal Sime. Michal Šimečka and his Progressive Slovakia party received nearly 18% of the vote. Simechika’s party topped exit polls on Saturday night.

Slovakia’s snap elections have set off alarm bells in Washington and Brussels, who fear Fico’s return to power will bring another anti-Ukrainian voice to the EU, alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Fico opposes sanctions on Russia and claims that NATO-led support for Ukraine undermines the country’s sovereignty.

After completing a stunning political comeback, Fico will now get his first chance to form a governing coalition.

The populist politician remains mired in multiple corruption cases and must survive attempts by his opponents to revoke his parliamentary immunity last year. In 2018, he was forced to resign as prime minister after the murder of a journalist investigating corruption and his fiancée sparked massive street protests.

The fragmentation of Slovakia’s political parties means there is little certainty that Fico will be able to find enough allies to form a governing coalition and avoid a hung parliament.

Simechika is a member of the European Parliament and a former journalist who briefly worked for the Financial Times. He has called for greater EU unity to help Ukraine and warned against bringing smaller Slovakia closer to Hungary’s pro-Russian orbit. His party failed to win enough votes to enter parliament in the last election.

The Hlas party, led by another former prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, came in third with 14.7% of the vote. Pellegrini succeeded Fico, who subsequently fell out with his former mentor and left Small to form Heras.

The campaign was tense, with candidates insulting and even punching each other. Fico and his nominal center-left party Smer were front-runners almost throughout the campaign until Simechika appeared to have a late surge.

Slovakia has been governed since May by a technocratic government appointed by President Zuzana Čaputová to prevent the country from descending into further political chaos after the previous coalition government collapsed due to infighting.

The three main parties in the election failed to break through the 5% threshold to enter parliament, including the far-right Republican Party, which received 4.75% of the vote and is expected to help Fico after the vote.

Svlook