Fascist Rise After Slovakia Elections, Explained

What You Need To Know:

✓ The results of Slovakia’s recent parliamentary elections were surprising to both Slovaks and the international community;
✓ The center-left populist SMER-SD party of Slovakia’s current prime minister, Robert Fico received only 28% of votes. A radical far-right party got a sizeable number of seats, too;
 ✓“A large part of Slovak voters sent a message that they don’t like the way the country is being run and where it is heading and they demand change, especially in terms of anti-corruption;”
 ✓“It will be difficult to form a Government.”

The results of Slovakia’s recent parliamentary elections were surprising to both Slovaks and the international community, says Milan Nič, Managing Director of the Central European Policy Institute. “Two factors came as a surprise: one was an extent to which mainstream parties did badly and to what extent protest parties, either extremist of even within a center-right, those parties that were very critical and running on the anti-corruption ticket, succeeded.”

The center-left populist SMER-SD party of Slovakia’s current prime minister, Robert Fico received only 28% of votes, after running a seemingly strong anti-immigration campaign over the last 6 months. “A large part of Slovak voters sent a message that they don’t like the way the country is being run and where it is heading and they demand change, especially in terms of anti-corruption,” adds Nič.

A right extremist party, ĽSNS, earned a 8% of the vote and will have 14 MPs in the newly elected Parliament. The party’s strong socio-economic platform pleased its electorate, primarily based in the regions, where unemployment rates are over 30%.

While Fico remains Prime Minister,“it will be difficult to form a Government,” says Nič, as parties from the center-right could form a coalition against the center-left.

Josh Kovensky of Kyiv Post spoke to Milan Nič, Managing Director at the Central European Policy Institute via Skype on March 13th, 2016.