Former PM Peter Pellegrini (centre) attends the political debate programme Na telo, broadcast on TV Markíza, on May 31, 2020. (source: FB Na telo s M. Kovačičom)
The departure of former PM Peter Pellegrini from the strongest opposition party Smer would have a destructive effect on the party that governed Slovakia for over a decade.
A recent poll, conducted by the Focus poll agency for the private channel TV Markíza, shows Pellegrini’s potential party would obtain 21.4 percent of the vote. This figure is double that of the former PM Robert Fico-led Smer, which obtained 9.6 percent of the vote.
If the parliamentary elections were held in May, Pellegrini’s prospective party would become the second strongest party, pushing Smer down to third place.
Focus approached 1,011 respondents between May 14 and 21, asking them who they would vote for if Fico remained the Smer chair and Pellegrini left the party and established his own political subject.
In late April, Pellegrini expressed an interest in leading Smer for the first time because of the support he felt among party members. He hinted a week later, on May 3, he would leave Smer if he failed to find enough support to be elected as a chair.
