Posted on 10/01/2023 5:20:55 AM PDT by FarCenter
Former Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico's populist SMER-SSD party has won Slovakia's election, results showed on Sunday.
Fico leads a populist party that has vowed to stop military aid to Ukraine and is critical of the EU and NATO.
The Smer-SD party scored 23.3%, beating the centrist Progressive Slovakia on 17%, with almost all votes counted. Previously, two exit polls had indicated that Progressive Slovakia would be the winner.
If Fico successfully creates a majority coalition, he will lead the European nation for the fourth time.
"Fico is a technician of power, by far the best in Slovakia. He does not have a counterpart at the moment," said sociologist Michal Vasecka from the Bratislava Policy Institute.
"Fico is always following opinion polls, understands what is happening" in society, he added.
HLAS in key position
The HLAS (Voice) party, which could become the kingmaker for forming the next government, was third with just over 15% of the vote.
SMER-SSD, set to clinch 42 seats in the 150-member parliament, will need coalition partners to form Slovakia's next government. The HLAS, with an estimated 27 seats, could be a key partner.
...
Fico has said if he returns to power, Slovakia will continue supporting Ukraine but will not provide arms or ammunition. He has been called pro-Russian by opponents, a criticism he rejects.
A Progressive Slovakia government would maintain Bratislava's current support for Kyiv.
"Fico benefited from all that anxiety brought by the (coronavirus) pandemic and the (Ukraine) war, by the anger spreading in Slovakia in the past three years, and fueling that anger," sociologist Michal Vasecka was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying.
Slovakia has the eurozone's highest inflation rate of 10% and a financially depleted health system.
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
Oh, oh, this will drive the war hawks crazy.
Good.
Yeah baby!
Does that mean the ‘far right extremist factions’ won?
Isn't that interesting.
Rather like many of the neocon-neolibs on other threads, in which one is ONLY either 1) a supporter of Ukraine in weapons and money, or 2) a supporter of Putin.
No other position or perspective is conceivable to them. My perspective for this nation is that our over $33 trillion national debt is unsustainable, and will cause us great harm.
From that perspective, Ukraine and Russia can war until they tire of it, and I see the end as a problem for them, while our problem is debt.
Debt Clock
Technicians of power are exactly what we need.
It’s great to have your little theories and ideological purity tests, but if you can’t get into a position to do what you want to do, it’s all meaningless.
correction: SMER finishes first
In parliamentary governments, you have to assemble a majority coalition. It is unusual, but not rare, for the party that finishes first to be frozen out of government. Even though SMER gained seats, the Russophilic parties in total lost seats.
Parties of the center and center-right, in terms of economic policy, again were a majority. However, they fell apart last time. Thus, this snap election. (Yes, democracy is messy.)
Pro-European parties (these are not the same as center and center-right parties in terms of economic policy) were a large majority.
We will see who, if anybody, is able to put together a majority coalition.
Good news!
Have been following this.
Thanks for posting.
In the U.S., in my view, it is populists in America that have the most intellectual purity tests - as being a populist is itself a philosophy.
“Does that mean the ‘far right extremist factions’ won?”
Correct, the people who oppose World War 3 have won this election.
Dang naughtZees!
Robert Fico is back. His Smer party emerged with the most votes in Saturday’s election and it seems highly likely that he will get to form the new government. Smer, together with third-place Hlas, and the Slovak National Party (SNS), which returns to parliament, would together have a narrow but comfortable majority of 79 MPs in the 150-member house.
In the end, however, it will come down to the decision of Hlas leader Peter Pellegrini, because the only chance of a non-Smer government would rely on his support.
Progressive Slovakia (PS) finished second and confirmed its position in the final pre-election polls, but did not bring any major surprises or a surge in support.
The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) returns to parliament after a two-term absence. Also elected were Igor Matovič and his Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) coalition (which includes Christian Union and Za Ľudi) and Richard Sulík’s Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), which achieved a similar result as at the last election in 2020. Boris Kollár’s Sme Rodina party, which dropped below 3 percent, is out.
The failure of Republika to make it into parliament is another surprise of the election. The party, which emerged from Marian Kotleba’s neo-fascist ĽSNS, was predicted by all the pre-election polls to comfortably clear the 5-percent threshold, but ultimately scored only 4.75 percent. It is the first time since 2016 that parliament will be without an overtly fascist party.
Čítajte viac: https://spectator.sme.sk/c/23222981/fico-is-likely-to-return-but-pellegrini-will-decide-who-governs.html
“ Does that mean the ‘far right extremist factions’ won?”
No. His party is left wing, evolved from communist party.
Good for Slovakia!
See #14 this thread.😳
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