New Delhi: Former three-time Slovak prime minister Robert Fico is poised to resuscitate his political career with his party, the SMER-SD, having secured the most votes in the recently concluded elections to the country’s National Council. Fico’s likely return to power, if his election speeches are any indication, could pose a challenge to NATO and European Union (EU) unity amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The 59-year-old, who stepped down as prime minister in 2018 in the face of mounting public pressure over the murder of a journalist and his fiancée, besides corruption cases against members of his party, has been invited by the president to form the government.
Fico and his populist SMER-SD party won 22.94 percent of the vote, according to results published by the statistical office of the Slovak Republic. The runner-up, Progressive Slovakia, a pro-Western and pro-Ukraine party, won 17.96 percent of the vote.
Upending Bratislava’s current position as a staunch supporter of Ukraine, the populist Fico ran on an anti-West, anti-US platform, promising to stop military aid to Ukraine and block Kyiv’s entry into NATO — the 31-member bloc comprising countries from Europe and North America with a collective defence clause.
On the campaign trail, Fico supported Russia’s position on Ukraine including repeating Kremlin’s claim that Kyiv runs a ‘Nazi’ state. He also campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights, reported El País.
On Monday, Zuzana Čaputová, the president of Slovakia, invited Fico and the SMER-SD to form a coalition government. If Fico is successful, he would become prime minister of Slovakia for the fourth time. Fico and Čaputová have a tense relationship, given that he has in the past referred to the liberal Čaputová as an “agent” of the US, according to a report by the Associated Press. Čaputová has sued Fico for those statements.
For now, Fico’s path to power includes building a coalition with the pro-European HLAS (Voice) party led by former prime minister Peter Pellegrini. Pellegrini replaced Fico in 2018 as prime minister of Slovakia, before falling out with the SMER-SD establishment and forming HLAS in 2020, with the support of 10 members from SMER-SD.
Representatives of the 150-member National Council of the Slovak Republic are elected through an open list proportional representation system.
Final results of the recently held polls, published by Slovakia’s statistical office, show that SMER-SD won 42 seats and Progressive Slovakia finished second with 32 seats, followed by HLAS with 27 seats. The conservative incumbent, OL’aNO and Friends, won 16 seats.
To govern, Fico requires the support of at least 75 members of the National Council. SMER-SD, along with HLAS and the smaller nationalist Slovak National Party — also pro-Russia — with 10 seats, would give Fico a workable coalition to govern.
Also Read: ‘War sponsors’: Indian entity among 26 blacklisted by Ukraine for ‘abetting Russian aggression’
‘A big risk to Slovakia’
Progressive Slovakia (PS) led by Michal Šimečka ran on a pro-EU, pro-West, pro-LGBTQ+ platform and finished second in the elections. Šimečka called Fico’s victory a ‘big risk for Slovakia’ in a post on X (formerly Twitter), the day after results were announced.
Ďakujem všetkým ľuďom, ktorí prišli k voľbám. Veľmi si vážim aj vysokú dôveru, ktorú od vás dostalo PS. Je to historicky najlepší výsledok liberálnej strany na Slovensku. 🇸🇰 Napriek neustálym útokom zo všetkých strán sme sa dnes stali druhým najsilnejším subjektom v parlamente. S…
— Michal Šimečka (@MSimecka) October 1, 2023
“However, SMER won the elections. We fully respect that, but at the same time we see it as bad news and a big risk for Slovakia. The coming days and negotiations of the political parties will show how realistic this risk will be,” he added, in Slovak.
In another post on X, Šimečka said that no other ‘liberal’ entity in Slovak politics achieved the results that the PS did — securing over 5,30,000 votes and nearly 18 percent of the total vote share.
Ďakujeme za vašich viac ako pol milióna hlasov a 18 % pre jasne liberálnu, proeurópsku a zelenú stranu. Takýto výsledok ešte žiaden liberálny subjekt v slovenskej politike nedosiahol.
Neskutočne si to vážime. Navzdávame to a zabojujeme. Nech povolebné rokovania dopadnú… pic.twitter.com/xRa7dYxY8N
— Michal Šimečka (@MSimecka) October 1, 2023
But Fico’s victory may turn out to be more than just a “risk” for Slovakia. If sworn in as prime minister, he could challenge EU’s support for Ukraine, given that his views on the war resemble those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who while calling for a negotiated end to the war has refused to cut ties with Moscow in response to the invasion.
Orbán was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Fico on his victory. “Always good to work together with another patriot. Looking forward to it,” he wrote in a post on X.
Guess who's back! Congratulations to Robert Fico on his undisputable victory at the Slovak parliamentary elections. Always good to work together with a patriot. Looking forward to it! 🇭🇺🇸🇰 pic.twitter.com/JHIlYWKX6c
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 1, 2023
Fico’s complicated past
Robert Fico was prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 till 2018, until he was forced to resign in the aftermath of the murders of Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová.
Kuciak, an investigative journalist with the Slovak media house Aktuality.sk, was investigating links between people close to the SMER-SD and the Italian mafia before he was killed on 21 February. His killing, which was compared by the political opposition to the 1996 assassination of a police officer by the Slovak mafia, led to some of the largest protests seen across Slovakia since the collapse of communism there in 1989.
Fico was forced to resign on 14 March 2018 and Pellegrini, his deputy at the time, took over as prime minister.
Since Fico’s resignation, at least 40 officials, judges, prosecutors, politicians and businessmen connected to SMER-SD have been convicted of corruption and other crimes. Earlier this year, the governor of Slovakia’s central bank, who served as finance minister under Fico, was convicted of bribery by Slovakia’s Special Criminal Court, as reported by Politico. Fico himself faced charges of corruption in 2022.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Who will pay the bill for rebuilding Ukraine? The answer lies in unfreezing Russian assets