Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák (source: TASR )
Moreover, Lajčák is acceptable also to voters of political right parties, unlike Fico, the poll made by the Focus agency and ordered by the Sme daily finds. The popularity of non-partisan Lajčák is used also by the ruling Smer party: he is one of the faces of the current election campaign, preceding the March 5, 2016 general election.
Lajčák would be also less disrupting than Fico in the premier’s position for the public.
“As Smer chairman and head of cabinet, Fico is a person from which opposition parties as well as their voters distance themselves to a certain degree, perceiving him as an opponent,” sociologist Martin Slosiarik of Focus said, as quoted by Sme. “However, through Lajčák, less political affiliation leaks out.”
Voters of the opposition parties Sieť, Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and OĽaNO-NOVA coalition would vote for Lajčák as the second option for PM, after their party boss. For Most-Híd, Slovak National Party (SNS), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Slovak Christian and Democratic Union (SDKÚ) he would be No 3. Smer voters would place Lajčák on third position, too, after Fico and Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák.
“It is not surprising that as an expert on foreign policy, and as a non-partisan politician moreover, he is perceived as competent also by voters on the right,” Slosiarik told Sme.
The foreign minister also has the trust of Smer members, expected to appear on the party slate among the Top 10 candidates, but without joining it, the daily wrote on November 25.
