Slovak left wins election on vow to back welfare state

LEFTIST LEADER Robert Fico is poised for a return to power in Slovakia after his Smer party dominated elections.

In a vote where his centre-right rivals were punished for a corruption scandal, Smer took 83 of the 150 seats in parliament in Saturday’s ballot. The result ensured it is the only party able to command an outright majority in Slovakia since it split from the Czech Republic in 1993.

The tough-talking Mr Fico has pledged to maintain a robust welfare state funded through tax increases for big companies and the wealthy. The promises resonated with many Slovaks as their economy slows and unemployment rises in the euro zone’s second-poorest country.

Mr Fico also assured Brussels that he would follow pro-EU policies after an election that was triggered by discord in the previous centre-right government over whether to support an increase in the EU’s bailout fund. Smer agreed to back the majority of parties in the former ruling coalition and push through approval of a larger fund, in return for Saturday’s early elections.

“The result is a very nice surprise. The number of parliamentary seats shows Smer has succeeded with its programme,” said Mr Fico, who also served as premier from 2006-2010.

“We can realise a programme of a social state, a programme of improving the public finances that won’t be at the cost of people with low and middle incomes,” he told supporters. “It’s also a pro-European programme. The European Union can lean on Smer because we realise that Slovakia, as a small country living in Europe . . . desires to maintain the euro zone and the euro as a strong European currency.”

Under Mr Fico, Slovakia adopted the euro in 2009. But growth has declined sharply in recent years from a record 10.5 per cent in 2007 to 3.3 per cent last year and a predicted 1.2 per cent this year, due mostly to dwindling demand for Slovak products in EU markets.

Mr Fico advocates significant state involvement in the economy. Moreover, he hopes government investment projects will boost growth while also allowing him to fulfil a commitment to reduce Slovakia’s budget deficit to less than 3 per cent of GDP in 2013.

“We are accepting this commitment, we realise how important it is to have healthy public finances,” said Mr Fico. The Smer leader irked liberals across Europe during his last term in office by forming a coalition with the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) and turning on media critical of him.

The SNS failed this weekend to gain the 5 per cent of votes necessary to enter parliament, while an anti-corruption party called Ordinary People took 16 seats and the four parties that formed the previous government claimed a combined 51 seats.

The party of outgoing premier Iveta Radicova attracted almost 10 per cent less support than in 2010, after being heavily implicated in a scandal that saw some of her colleagues accused of taking bribes to favour a major Slovak company in privatisation deals when in power from 2002-2006.