Smer starts government talks with HZDS and SNS

ROBERT Fico, the chairman of the opposition Smer party which won Saturday’s elections, has begun talks on forming the next government with the heads of two of Slovakia’s most controversial parties, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the far-right Slovak National Party.Fico, who was tapped today by Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič to have first crack at forming a new cabinet, said he would meet with the representatives of each of the other five parties that secured seats in parliament.The first round of talks will concern program similarities, while the second will focus more closely on the details of any cooperation that emerges.While Fico negotiates, the other parties are not standing still. The ruling Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) announced today that it would meet tomorrow with its partner in the outgoing government, the Hungarian Coalition Party, to discuss the post-election political environment.