Slovakia’s early parliamentary elections were held on Saturday, 30 September. Winning 22.94 percent of the votes (and 42 of the 150 National Council seats), former prime minister Robert Fico’s SMER-SD (catchall, populist) came out on top. While victory is not yet a foregone conclusion for the populists – they still need to form a coalition – the news has caused a stir, with SMER-SD making remarks considered Eurosceptic, Russophile and critical of military support for Ukraine.
But Ukrainians aren’t the only ones who have reason to worry. SMER and its president have also distinguished themselves on several occasions by defending Islamophobic, anti-LGBT and misogynistic positions. Indeed, these so-called social-democrats were previously allied with the Slovak National Party (SNS, far-right) in 2006, in a coalition that led to SMER’s exclusion from the ranks of European socialists.
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