PM Robert Fico's ruling coalition Smer party remains the most popular party in Slovakia. The latest public opinion poll conducted by the Statistics Office's Institute for Public Opinion Research (ÚVVM) showed that February brought no considerable changes in political parties' popularity compared with the previous month. The institute ran the survey between February 1 and 9.
The survey showed that the strongest ruling party, Smer, was still the most popular in February, winning the support of 46.7 percent of respondents, down 1 percentage point from the 47.7 percent it scored in January. Smer's junior ruling Slovak National Party (SNS) placed second with 10.6 percent support, an increase over last month of 1.2 percentage points. The opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), led by former prime minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, garnered 10.5 percent, loosing 0.2 points since January. The junior ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) received the backing of 10.4 percent of those polled, up 0.8 points since last month. The opposition Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) followed with 9.8 percent. The Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH) ended sixth with 6.9 percent. No other party reached the 5 percent threshold needed to get into parliament. A total of 26.3 percent of those polled did not support any political party.
