Slovakia

In the recent Slovakian parliamentary elections, Direction – Social Democracy (SMER–SD) emerged as the biggest party on a platform of economic concessions to workers, and withdrawal of support for the Ukraine War, to the horror of the European establishment, who lambasted the party as ‘pro-Russian’. We have no illusions in this party, but the fact is that SMER and its leader Róbert Fico captured support from the poorest regions of the country by channelling an anti-establishment mood.

In March Slovakia experienced an early parliamentary election after the right-wing coalition failed to function after just 16 months in power. The outgoing coalition was headed by Prime Minister Iveta Radičova, who took office in July 2010. Robert Fico's Social-Democratic party, Smer [Direction], won a massive 45% of the vote, taking 83 seats in the 150-member assembly.