Shortly after polling stations closed on March 10 and exit poll results indicated that the Smer party would emerge as by far the biggest party, its leader Robert Fico said that he expected his party to be charged by President Ivan Gašparovič with forming the next government. One exit poll suggested that Smer would get half of the mandates – i.e. 75 of the 150 seats in parliament – while the other forecast that Fico’s party would get 69 seats.
“We will invite to a round table all the parties which [won] over five percent and it will become apparent who is willing to cooperate,” Fico said, as quoted by TASR, adding that the decisive thing would be whether the parties could find some common policy points.
However, Fico said he could not rule out another multi-party centre-right coalition emerging and thereby excluding Smer from government, as happened after the last election.
Applause filled the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) after the results of an exit poll appeared during a broadcast of TV Markíza, the TASR newswire reported. According to the preliminary results, the party should get about 10.8 percent, translating into about 20 MPs in the next parliament.
“The political shifts say that there is a certain balance of the spectrum of left-wing and right-wing,” said party chairman Ján Figeľ, as quoted by TASR, adding that while the left-wing is represented by only one party and the right-wing is more various, the KDH can “play a significant role, and it is a challenge to responsibility”.
Slovak Christian and Democratic Union (SDKÚ) leader Mikuláš Dzurinda, in response to exit poll results which gave his party 7.5 percent and 8.1 percent, said that he could not disguise the fact that its support had fallen since 2010, when it recorded more than 15 percent.
He admitted that, along with the collapse of the government of Iveta Radicova, it could have been the Gorilla case that negatively influenced the results of his party.
“The chairman carries responsibility for the result of the party,” he said, adding that he would decide about his chairmanship over the next couple of days.
Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) leader Igor Matovič told the TASR newswire that he would respect the choice of the voters, adding that everything depended on their trust.
According to an exit poll by the MVK polling agency, OĽaNO could get about 7.6 percent. Matovič said that he was disappointed by the exit poll results of the other right-wing parties and that he had expected them to get more, TASR wrote.
