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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Henley Europe correspondent

Slovakia election: polls open in knife-edge vote with Ukraine high on agenda

Smer-SD leader Robert Fico being cheered at a rally
Smer-SD leader Robert Fico has said ‘war always comes from the west and freedom and peace always come from the east’. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA

Voting has started in a knife-edge election in Slovakia that could decide whether the country sticks with its liberal, pro-western line or abandons its staunch support for neighbouring Ukraine to lean more towards Moscow.

After a virulent campaign that has included physical brawls and amid a wave of online disinformation, the populist, nationalist three-time prime minister Robert Fico and his Smer-SD party were neck and neck with the newcomers Progressive Slovakia heading into the vote, with PS just ahead in two of the final four opinion polls.

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