Editorials

The Irish Times view on Slovakia’s election: Far-right’s rise may be a turning point for Europe

Bratislava risks going the way of Poland and Hungary if embattled ruling party returns to power with help of nationalists

A protest rally marking the second anniversary of the murder of the investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, ahead of country’s parliamentary election, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Photograph: David W Cerny/Reuters

Fri Feb 28 2020 - 00:05

A Slovak court is still trying the alleged murderers of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, but the nation's voters are poised to deliver their verdict on a ruling party that was thrown into crisis by the killings. The investigation into the February 2018 shooting of Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova revealed alarming links between Slovak businessmen, alleged criminals, state officials and members of the populist Smer party that has run the country for 12 of the last 14 years.

Polls suggest Smer will claim about 17 per cent of votes in Saturday’s election, down from 28 per cent four years ago but probably enough to beat the rest of a fractured political field.

In much of Slovakia and in many other EU states, there is concern that Smer could join forces with the extreme-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) to prevent a coalition of mainstream opposition parties taking office. Marian Kotleba, leader of the LSNS, has praised wartime Slovakia's Nazi puppet regime and described his country's large Roma minority as "parasites".

Smer leader Robert Fico, who reluctantly resigned as premier after the murder of Kuciak and Kusnirova, was charged with inciting racial hatred last year when he criticised a court ruling against an LSNS deputy who lambasted "Gypsy antisocials" and compared Roma children to "animals in a zoo". The charge was later dropped, and Fico continues to be the driving force behind Smer, which called a special session of parliament this week to hike pensions before the election. The LSNS and another nationalist party backed the increase.

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If Smer retains power with the help of the far right, then an increasingly populist Slovakia may adopt the kind of Eurosceptic outlook and rule-of-law reforms that have put neighbouring Hungary and Poland at loggerheads with Brussels. That would gladden nationalist leaders in Budapest and Warsaw, but do nothing for the EU's ability to tackle a host of key issues, from managing migration to fighting corruption to thrashing out a new long-term budget.

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