Smer wins elections, fascists are out of parliament

The election night in Slovakia began with two exit polls that predicted a win for the liberal force Progresívne Slovensko (PS) in the early election but as the night went on, live results hinted at and eventually confirmed a different scenario: the return of Smer.

The party lost the 2020 election, two years after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. Since then, dozens of people connected to former Smer governments have been prosecuted and charged with corruption.

Smer, led by former three-time PM Robert Fico who pledges to cut any support to Ukraine except for humanitarian aid, won the election on September 30 with 22.94 percent; a similar figure was forecast for PS in one of the exit polls. Progresívne Slovensko ended in second place with 17.95 percent.

Six single parties and one coalition party have gotten into the 150-seat parliament, according to the unofficial results. They will be confirmed by the state election commission at midday on Sunday.

Hlas, a left wing party established three years ago by Smer renegades led by ex-PM Peter Pellegrini, the self-declared anti-corruption movement OĽaNO chaired by ex-PM Igor Matovič, the liberal party SaS, as well as two returnees, the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the ultranationalist party Slovak National Party (SNS), will sit in parliament as well.

This election was not short of political surprises such as the end of the far-right movement Republika and the populist movement Sme Rodina, led by Speaker Boris Kollár, in parliament.

In the coming days, President Zuzana Čaputová is expected to ask Fico to form a government. He may form a coalition government with Hlas and SNS. With KDH, such a coalition would reach the constitutional majority. Smer could swap SNS for KDH, which would grant the Smer-led government 81 seats in the house.

In 2010, when Fico won his second parliamentary election, most parties refused to cooperate with him and he did not become the prime minister. If the situation happened again, Progresívne Slovensko could try to form a liberal-conservative government with KDH, SaS, and Hlas.

The turnout was the highest since the 2002 parliamentary election, reaching 68.51 percent.