Poll suggests few voters favour “Danko's” pro-Russian foreign policy

ĽSNS voters show most support.

Most Slovaks favour official European-Atlantic foreign policy of Slovakia.Most Slovaks favour official European-Atlantic foreign policy of Slovakia. (Source: AP/SITA)

Most Slovaks favour the official Euro-Atlantic foreign policy of Slovakia the latest poll for private broadcaster TV Markíza, conducted by the Focus polling agency, suggests.

Almost 62 percent of respondents prefer the Euro-Atlantic direction of Slovak foreign policy, while almost 18 percent favour a pro-Russian foreign policy and 20 percent stated they do not know. The poll was carried out between March 28 and 29 on 1,204 respondents.

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They answered the question: “What option do you prefer regarding Slovak foreign policy?” They could choose between the “Unequivocal pro-European and pro-Atlantic foreign policy, like the one pursued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry” or the “pro-Russian foreign policy as pursued by Andrej Danko”.

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Pro-Russian Danko?

The poll also enquired into the political preferences of the respondents. The pro-Russian policy found greatest support among voters for the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS): almost 47 percent of respondents. On the other hand, only 37 percent of ĽSNS voters favour the Euro-Atlantic foreign policy.

Read also: Andrej Danko: I will not renounce Russia Read more 

Voters for Danko’s Slovak National Party (SNS) also preferred a pro-Russian foreign policy at almost 47 percent. At the same time, almost 40 percent of SNS voters support the Euro-Atlantic foreign policy.

Smer voters favour the pro-European and pro-Atlantic direction of the country with support of 55 percent, however, 33 percent would prefer a pro-Russian orientation.

Pro-European opposition

Voters for the coalition of non-parliamentary parties Progressive Slovakia and Spolu (Together) have the clearest idea about foreign policy. More than 94 percent of their voters prefer Euro-Atlantic foreign policy. Only 0.5 percent chose the other option.

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As for the voters of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), 80 percent support official foreign policy.

Danko responds

Read also: Ruling parties split over attitude to Russia Read more 

Danko was quite critical of the Focus poll. In his opinion, it was “stupidly defined” since he does not doubt the pro-western direction of current foreign policy, and that “the EU is the best solution for Slovakia”, as he told the press on April 15 after the coalition council meeting.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák.

“I would like to assure you, I asked Minister Lajčák whether he feels the absolute support of the Slovak National Party in our pro-European and pro-Atlantic policy and he did not hesitate for a second,” Danko said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

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