Robert Fico, former Slovak prime minister and lead candidate of the SMER political party, arrives at SMER headquarters at the Slovak parliamentary elections on September 30, 2023 in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Slovakia's leftist former Prime Minister Robert Fico beat his progressive rival in a parliamentary election after campaigning to end military aid to Ukraine, but he will need to win over allies to form the next government, nearly complete results showed on Sunday.
With 98% of voting districts reporting in the Saturday election, Fico's SMER-SSD party led with 23.37% of the vote.
Former Fico colleague and leftist HLAS leader Peter Pellegrini kept his options open on future coalitions.
It would also signal a further shift in the region against political liberalism, which may be reinforced if conservative PiS wins an election in Poland later this month.
Persons:
Robert Fico, Fico's, Peter Pellegrini, Fico, Robert Kalinak
Organizations:
Slovak, Progressive, NATO, Ukraine
Locations:
Slovak, Bratislava, Slovakia, Ukraine, Progressive Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Brussels