THE PARTY of former prime minister Robert Fico, Smer, which received the most votes in this June’s parliamentary election, confirmed its position as the party with the highest level of popular support in Saturday’s municipal elections. Candidates of Smer were elected as mayors in 599 municipalities according to the official results published by Slovakia’s Statistics Office.
Of the parties of the four-party ruling coalition, the Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH) took the most, 161 mayoral posts, while the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) will control 159 mayoral posts. Most-Híd’s candidates were successful in 95 municipalities and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) will have 20 mayors in the next four years. Altogether, including candidates who ran for coalitions composed of the centre-right parties of the ruling coalition, the centre-right parties’ candidates were elected as mayors in 571 municipalities.
Independent candidates, many of them however supported by a political party or a coalition of political parties, will take mayoral seats in 979 municipalities.
The relative success of independent candidates confirmed that, unlike in parliamentary elections, well-known local personalities have a good chance of success in municipal elections even without the endorsement or support of a political party.
