Summary of the day
A poll published today showed Progressive Slovakia taking a very narrow lead over populist former prime minister Robert Fico’s Smer. The new data put Progressive Slovakia at 18%, Smer at 17.7% and Hlas at 15%. But other polls from this month showed Smer with a narrow lead over the progressives.
Milan Nič, a senior research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on Slovakia, said the race is still open, with some voters shifting their preferences.
Katarína Klingová, a senior research fellow at the Bratislava-based Globsec Policy Institute, said that the outcome of Saturday’s election is still “quite unpredictable” and that disinformation is affecting Slovak voters’ views.
Martin Hojsík, the vice president of Progressive Slovakia and a member of the European parliament, told the Guardian that it is “shocking from a European context” that Fico’s Smer sits with the Socialists and Democrats group.
Vladimíra Marcinková, a member of the Slovak parliament from the libertarian Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, told the Guardian that the country’s election campaign was missing “constructive dialogue.”
Catch up on the Guardian’s Slovakia coverage
Populist former prime minister Robert Fico’s ‘toxic’ campaign has exposed deep divisions and a victory could move Slovakia closer to Russia. Read Jason Burke’s report from Bratislava.
And check out this useful Q&A by Jon Henley on why Saturday’s election is unlikely to end political turbulence that has dogged the country since the murder of a journalist in 2018 but could have serious ramifications for Ukraine.
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