SEVENTEEN years after the fall of communism, many people in Slovakia are still afraid to state their political allegiances openly, the Pravda daily found. In a recent opinion poll on the June 17 general election, the daily discovered that first-time voters, students and pensioners were the most willing to answer questions about voting, while middle-aged voters were the most reticent.
Of all voters, young people and students were the least inhibited.
"Young people have gotten used to it. [They] aren't afraid that something will happen to them as a result," sociologist Zuzana Kusá from the Slovak Academy of Sciences said, adding that the same goes for pensioners. When categorized by profession, the most cautious were health workers and lawyers. Entrepreneurs were also careful, as they worried that expressing their political opinions could harm their business.
