Six extra-parliamentary parties are hoping to exceed the threshold required to enter Slovakia’s parliament in the general election slated for June 12, based on statements by their respective leaders.
A survey carried out by the MVK agency between February 22 and March 1 suggests that Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) enjoys the best prospects of meeting the 5-percent threshold required for an individual party to win seats. It polled over 9 percent. Béla Bugár's Most-Híd party also attracted more than 5 percent, with 5.2 percent of respondents saying they would vote for it. Notwithstanding the consistently high support it has recorded in recent polls, chairman Richard Sulík says SaS is aiming simply to clear the 5-percent threshold. Most-Híd's election outcome, according to its leader Bugár, depends on its ability to galvanise its grassroots supporters, through which it hopes to garner as much as 8 percent.
The best performer among those in the survey who failed to reach 5 percent was the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), on 2.3 percent. Under current circumstances KSS chairman Jozef Hrdlička still thinks that the party has a chance of returning to the legislature after four years in the wilderness. The survey revealed 1.1-percent voter support for the reconstituted Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), which has agreed to form a coalition with the Greens (SZ), who polled 0.8 percent, and the Rural Agrarian Party (ASV) and the Party of Civil Solidarity (SOS), who gained 0.5 percent combined. Although the coalition’s combined support amounted to only just over 2 percent in the poll, SDĽ chairman Marek Blaha told the TASR newswire that the grouping is well-positioned to surpass the 7-percent threshold required for coalitions.
Former Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) vice-chairman Milan Urbáni’s party, Alliance for Europe, polled 0.2 percent, but vice-chair Zdenka Kramplová said it still hopes to attract more than 5 percent in June. The MVK survey of 1,000 respondents didn't register any support for the newly-formed Union-Party for Slovakia, which was formed through a merger between the Free Forum (Slobodné Fórum), Liga and Civil Candidates parties.
In the survey the six political parties/groupings above attracted combined support of 18.8 percent, slightly more than half of the joint showing estimated by their leaders. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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