Victorious populist party finalizes agreement to establish coalition government in Slovakia

The winner of the recent parliamentary elections in Slovakia, Robert Fico's left-wing Smer-SSD party, has agreed to form a coalition government. Despite winning the vote with promises to stop military aid to Ukraine, Fico denied being pro-Russian. He signed a deal on Wednesday with the Hlas party and the nationalist SNS party, which together will have control over 79 out of 150 seats in parliament. The details of how ministerial posts will be filled are yet to be determined, but it is apparent that a key objective will be to end Slovakia's support for Ukraine. Fico's stance on Ukraine and his opposition to Western sanctions drew comparisons to Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. The SNS party, led by Andrej Danko, shares similar views on the Ukrainian conflict and has expressed support for Russia. Fico also aims to address the issue of migration, particularly the flow of migrants through Slovakia to Western Europe. The Progressive Slovakia party, which came second in the election, advocates for an open and tolerant society, while Fico's party dismisses this vision as "liberal fascism" and campaigns for stability, order, and social security. The pro-European party Hlas, led by Peter Pellegrini, has made it clear that any coalition government they are involved in will maintain Slovakia's foreign policy aligned with its NATO and EU membership. The coalition agreement is yet to be fully disclosed, but Mr. Fico plans to present it to President Zuzana Čaputová soon. Fico had previously stepped down as Slovakia's prime minister in 2018 after the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak.