Former Slovakia Prime Minister and Chairman of the Smer-SD party, Robert Fico, expressed his views to reporters in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sunday, after the parliamentary elections. His party emerged victorious with nearly 23% of the popular vote. The accompanying photo was captured by Martin Divisek of EPA-EFE.
Oct. 1 (UPI) — Slovakia’s parliamentary elections, which took place over the weekend, saw the pro-Russia Smer-SD party win the highest number of seats. One of their key promises is to end the country’s support for Ukraine. Official media sources reported that Smer-SD, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, secured 22.9% of the votes. However, the party will need to form a coalition with other political groups to establish a government.
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini’s party, Hlas-SD, came in third place with approximately 14% of the votes, while the Slovak National Party garnered 5.7%. With a combined total of 81 seats in the 150-seat parliament, the three parties have a six-seat majority if they choose to form a ruling coalition.
In second place with 18% of the vote was the pro-European Progesivne slovensko (PS) party, headed by Michal Simecka.
During a press conference, Fico declared that if Smer-SD comes to power, they will completely withdraw support for Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion. Slovakia has been supplying Ukraine with surface-to-air missiles, helicopters, and fighter jets.
“If Smer enters government, we will not send a single round of ammunition to Ukraine,” Fico announced, as reported by the BBC.
In 2018, Fico resigned as prime minister following the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, who was investigating potential connections between organized crime and government officials. Kuciak had named several Slovak politicians in his reporting. Fico’s fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, was also killed in the incident.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to congratulate Fico on his victory. In his tweet, Orban wrote, “Guess who’s back! Congratulations to Robert Fico on his indisputable victory in the Slovak parliamentary elections. Always good to work together with a patriot. Looking forward to it!”
