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Slovakia’s Elections Challenge Unity On Ukraine

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BRATISLAVA/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The coalition supporting wartorn Ukraine faces more internal troubles after the party of a pro-Russian former prime minister won Slovakia’s parliamentary elections.

Robert Fico, leader of the populist Smer party, has pledged an immediate end to Slovak military support for Ukraine.

He said he would “not even send a bullet to Ukraine” in its battle against Russia’s invading troops and pledged to stop its ambitions to enter the NATO military alliance.

Fico told reporters he was waiting for Slovakia’s president to give him a mandate to start forming a government – due on Monday – after officials said Sunday that Smer had received 22.9 percent in Saturday’s vote with virtually all ballots counted.

Fico said he was ready to open talks with other parties on forming a coalition government. “We’re here, we’re ready, we’ve learned something, we’re more experienced,” he said. “We have clear ideas; we have clear plans.”

The 59-year-old is an admirer of Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, sparking fears Slovakia will join Hungary in challenging the European Union and NATO military alliance consensus on support for Kyiv. Fico told the media after his election victory that “People in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine.”

That was music to the ears of Orbán, who, like Fico, does not want to send weapons to Ukraine.“Guess who’s back!” the Hungarian prime minister said on social networking platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “Always good to work together with a patriot. Looking forward to it.”

POLITICAL SETBACK

Fico’s victory was a major political setback for the liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, which finished second with just under 18 percent. Its leader, Michal Šimečka, insisted he still saw a route to forming a ruling coalition.

“We believe that this is very bad news for Slovakia,” the 39-year-old European parliament vice-chair said of Smer’s victory. “And it would be even worse news if Robert Fico succeeds in forming a government.”

Hlas – a spin-off from Smer formed after Fico was forced to resign in 2018 over political turmoil surrounding the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée – became third on almost 15%.

With his party set up as kingmaker, Peter Pellegrini, the Hlas leader, who has previously said his party favored Smer, said on Sunday the priority in negotiations would be a stable coalition and legislative agenda. Talks could last days or weeks, he said.

PS, liberal on environmental policies and LGBTQ+ and minority rights, seeks deeper European integration and suggested on Sunday it would approach Hlas.

However, with Fico now in the lead, Western leaders and Russia were looking Monday toward the impact of these elections on the war effort in Ukraine.

Unlike Budapest, Bratislava had been a loyal and steadfast ally, supplying Kyiv with surface-to-air missiles and helicopters, even donating its entire fleet of retired MiG-29 fighter jets.

MUCH LEFT?

However, commentators said there’s not much left to give, with a Western official claiming that “the cupboard’s bare.”

What remains are commercial contracts for heavy weapons, including self-propelled howitzers ordered by Ukraine and its Western partners.

The manufacturers are mostly majority state-owned defense companies, and a Fico government could – in theory – intervene.

But those contracts provide jobs for Slovaks and revenue for the Slovak state, and Western officials wondered whether Fico would jeopardize them.

Amid the political turmoil, President Zuzana Čaputová, a former member of Progressive Slovakia and a longtime political rival of Fico, said she would task him with forming a new government. “Tomorrow, I will entrust the formation of the government to the winner of the election,” she said on Sunday.

However, critics appeared pleased that the far-right Republika party, long seen as a potential Smer partner, failed to clear the 5 percent threshold for a parliamentary seat despite polling between 7 and 10 percent.

In total, seven parties and groups scored high enough to enter parliament. They include the centrist, anti-corruption OLaNO coalition that won the previous elections 2020, the centrist Christian Democrats, and the rightwing SaS.