THE PARTY of Prime Minister Robert Fico, Smer, has retained its position as the most popular party in Slovakia. A survey conducted by the opinion poll institute of the Slovak Statistics Office between August 1 and 7 showed that Smer remains in the top spot despite a 3-percent fall in support. Of 1,247 respondents, 44.9 percent said they would vote for the party if elections had been held in August, the SITA newswire wrote.
The opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union Party (SDKÚ) jumped to second place. Of all respondents, 12.8 percent said they would vote for the SDKÚ at the beginning of August, up more than 3 percent from July. The third strongest party was the Slovak National Party (SNS), a member of the governing coalition, with 12.4 percent support, up from 11.4 percent in July.
