CZECH Prime Minister Miloš Zeman expects that Robert Fico of the non-parliamentary Smer party will become the new Slovak prime minister after the September general elections. Zeman made the statement on Easter Monday to students of De Paul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Zeman later added to journalists that Smer would likely finish second in the elections. Provided President Rudolf Schuster kept his word not to give Vladimír Mečiar of the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) the mandate to form a new government even if the HZDS won the elections, Zeman said, Fico was a sure bet as the next Slovak leader.
"You cannot put together a coalition against Mečiar without Fico," Zeman said.