Slovakia’s kingmaker party only wants coalition with populist Fico

Slovakia’s next ruling coalition is taking shape following the September 30 election, and it’s a red-brown alliance that is unlikely to please Ukraine or people concerned with EU solidarity.

Peter Pellegrini, chairman of the social democratic Hlas (Voice) party, which finished third in the election on 14.7 percent, announced Tuesday that Hlas would henceforth only negotiate with three-time former PM Róbert Fico’s leftist-populist Smer party, the election-winner with 23 percent, as well as with the Slovenská národná strana (Slovak National Party, SNS) nationalists, who took 5.6 percent.

Together, the three parties control 79 seats in the country’s 150-seat parliament.

Pellegrini, formerly Fico’s colleague in Smer until departing in 2020 to form Hlas, said the party’s leadership board had decided to end even informal talks with other parties who took seats in the elections, including the liberal Progresívne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia, PS), which finished second with 18 percent.

“The outcome of negotiations must be a coalition agreement that defines how ministries will be split, and that identifies the priorities of the next coalition government,” Pellegrini said.

The Hlas chairman explained that he had been deterred from joining a liberal-conservative coalition with PS and the Christian Democrats (KDH, 6.8 percent) because “cooperating with liberals and conservatives would be full of conflicts.”

“We are convinced that we made the right choice in this chaos and decline,” Pellegrini added.

Fico has promised to end Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine, and to oppose sanctions on Russia.