Beata Balogová is Editor of the Sme daily. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Robert Fico has defeated Slovakia – the version of the country, that is, that the majority of the nation imagined after the 1989 Velvet Revolution. On Saturday he convinced enough people that liberalism and human rights were bigger threats to them than widespread corruption and his admiration for Putin's regime.
Years of disinformation campaigns have allowed him to fulfil his 2018 promise that he was not going anywhere. Today, however, a different Fico is reaching for power: one more motivated by the criminal prosecution of his colleagues and sponsors of Smer, and supported by more extreme voters.
