If the parliamentary elections had been held between February 7 and February 12, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) would not have passed the 5-percent threshold needed for the party to reach parliament. The poll, conducted by the MVK polling agency, showed that the party chaired by Mikuláš Dzurinda would win the support of only 4.3 percent of voters, the TASR newswire reported.

The results of the poll, based on a sample of 1,128 respondents, showed that the elections would be won by opposition Smer party with 40.6 percent, representing 84 seats in parliament. Second place would be taken by the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) with 12.7 percent of votes (26 seats), followed by Ordinary People and Independent Personalities with 7 percent (15 seats), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) with 6.1 percent (13 seats) and Most-Híd with 5.9 percent of votes (12 seats).

In addition to SDKÚ, the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), the Slovak National Party (SNS) and 99 Percent – Civic Voice would not reach parliament, TASR wrote.

The spokesperson for SDKÚ, Michal Lukáč, responded to the results of the MVK poll saying that SDKÚ will make use of the remainder of the campaign to promote a responsible attitude among its traditional voters.

“This is because no SDKÚ voter wants to see a government made up only of Smer that would be countered only by new parties in parliament,” Lukáč said, as quoted by TASR.

The poor polling results had no effect on the slate of SDKÚ as none of the party’s members called on Dzurinda to depart at a meeting held on February 18 in Zvolen. But the current Justice Minister who is a deputy party chair, Lucia Žitňanská, told the Sme daily that if SDKÚ receives enough votes to make it to parliament, Dzurinda should resign from his post as party leader.

Source: TASR, Sme

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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