IF ELECTIONS had taken place at the beginning of October, Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer party would have won 37.4 percent of the votes, according to a poll carried out by the Focus agency. In contrast to findings from other recent polls, seven political parties would have made it to parliament, the SITA newswire reported.
The Slovak Christian and Democratic Union (SDKÚ), attracted the support of 14.4 percent of those polled. Another 10.1 percent opted for the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), which is now led by Slovakia's former European commissioner, Ján Figeľ.
The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), one of the two junior parties in the governing coalition, recorded 6.9 percent support and the other junior coalition party, the Slovak National Party (SNS), would have followed with 5.8 percent of votes. The finding marks a sharp decline since March 2008, when polls showed the SNS had support of up to 14.7 percent.
The poll suggested that the recently-established Most-Híd party would have cleared the 5 percent threshold for gaining representation in parliament, with 5.8 percent support. Most-Híd’s rival for votes among Slovakia’s Hungarian-speaking citizens would also have made it to parliament – but only just, with 5.1 percent support.
