Slovakia's leftist leader wins elections

Leftist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's party came out on top of Saturday's polls. However, a coalition of center-right parties that have sworn not to work with him have won a majority in parliament. Slovakia's leftist leader wins elections Parliamentary elections in Slovakia have seen the current leftist coalition lose its majority, although controversial Prime Minister Robert Fico says he retains the right to lead any talks on forming a new government. Meanwhile four centre-right parties with a total of 79 seats in the 150-seat parliament have claimed victory, saying the people of Slovakia have given them a clear mandate for change. He won, yet it seems he might have lost. Robert Fico, the uncompromising premier who promised to shield Slovaks from the worst of the global financial crisis and protect them from Hungarian revisionism, saw his SMER party win almost 35 percent of the vote - an impressive result for a party that's been in government for the last four years. "It's a result that gives us the right to receive the go-ahead from the president to lead talks on forming a government," he told bleary-eyed journalists at a pre-dawn press conference. But in the same breath, Fico conceded that his efforts may be in vain, and SMER may end up in opposition, where it would provide a "clear alternative" to a potential center-right coalition. SMER may control 62 seats in the new parliament, but the party looks isolated. His two coalition allies did not fare well. The ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) barely scraped the 5 percent threshold into parliament. However, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) - the party of Slovakia's authoritarian former prime minister Vladimir Meciar - was unceremoniously kicked out. Observers are already calling that "the final end of the Meciar era." The heavy-handed, autocratic politician who led his country into international isolation could now be on the brink of political retirement. Together, SMER and the Slovak National Party will command 71 seats - several short of a majority. The only way Prime Minister Fico can stay in power is if one of four center-right opposition parties choose to lend him their support - an unlikely, but, analysts stress, not impossible, prospect. The champagne was flowing, however, over at the headquarters of those four parties - two of them brand new. The center-right Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) - which presided over government from 1998-2006 and undid much of Meciar's damage to Slovakia's international reputation - emerged with 15 percent of the vote.

Slovakia's leftist leader wins elections

Parliamentary elections in Slovakia have seen the current leftist coalition lose its majority, although controversial Prime Minister Robert Fico says he retains the right to lead any talks on forming a new government. Meanwhile four centre-right parties with a total of 79 seats in the 150-seat parliament have claimed victory, saying the people of Slovakia have given them a clear mandate for change.

He won, yet it seems he might have lost.

Robert Fico, the uncompromising premier who promised to shield Slovaks from the worst of the global financial crisis and protect them from Hungarian revisionism, saw his SMER party win almost 35 percent of the vote - an impressive result for a party that's been in government for the last four years.

"It's a result that gives us the right to receive the go-ahead from the president to lead talks on forming a government," he told bleary-eyed journalists at a pre-dawn press conference.

But in the same breath, Fico conceded that his efforts may be in vain, and SMER may end up in opposition, where it would provide a "clear alternative" to a potential center-right coalition.

SMER may control 62 seats in the new parliament, but the party looks isolated. His two coalition allies did not fare well. The ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) barely scraped the 5 percent threshold into parliament. However, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) - the party of Slovakia's authoritarian former prime minister Vladimir Meciar - was unceremoniously kicked out.

Observers are already calling that "the final end of the Meciar era." The heavy-handed, autocratic politician who led his country into international isolation could now be on the brink of political retirement.

Together, SMER and the Slovak National Party will command 71 seats - several short of a majority. The only way Prime Minister Fico can stay in power is if one of four center-right opposition parties choose to lend him their support - an unlikely, but, analysts stress, not impossible, prospect.

The champagne was flowing, however, over at the headquarters of those four parties - two of them brand new. The center-right Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) - which presided over government from 1998-2006 and undid much of Meciar's damage to Slovakia's international reputation - emerged with 15 percent of the vote.