Slovak parliamentary election, 2012

Slovak parliamentary election, 2012

10 March 2012 (2012-03-10)

All 150 seats of the Národná rada 76 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Robert Fico Ján Figeľ Igor Matovič Party Smer-SD KDH OĽaNO Last election 62 seats, 34.8% 15 seats, 8.5% New party Seats won 83 16 16 Seat change 21 1 16 Percentage 44.41% 8.82% 8.55%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Béla Bugár Mikuláš Dzurinda Richard Sulík Party Most-Híd SDKÚ-DS SaS Last election 14 seats, 8.1% 28 seats, 15.4% 22 seats, 12.1% Seats won 13 11 11 Seat change 1 17 11 Percentage 6.89% 6.09% 5.88%

Prime Minister before election Iveta Radičová SDKÚ-DS Prime Minister-designate Robert Fico Smer-SD

Slovakia
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Slovakia
Constitution Constitutional Court 1939 constitution
Executive President Andrej Kiska Government Prime Minister: Robert Fico
Legislature National Council Speaker: Peter Pellegrini
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Political parties Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) Democratic and Christian Union – DP (SDKÚ) Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) Most–Híd National Party (SNS) Hungarian Coalition (SMK–MKP) People's Party – MDS (HZDS)
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Foreign relations Relations with Hungary
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A parliamentary election took place in Slovakia on 10 March 2012 to elect 150 members of the Národná rada. The election followed the fall of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party-led coalition in October 2011 over a no confidence vote her government had lost because of its support for the European Financial Stability Fund. Amidst a major corruption scandal involving local center-right politicians, former Prime Minister Robert Fico's Direction – Social Democracy won an absolute majority of seats.

Background

On 11 October 2011, the National Council of the Slovak Republic, the parliament of Slovakia, voted on whether to approve the expansion of the European Financial Stability Fund. As Slovakia was the last eurozone country to vote on the measure, prime minister Iveta Radičová of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ) made it a vote of confidence. The motion was called on the grounds, according to the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, that Slovakia, the second poorest eurozone country, should not bail out richer countries such as Greece in the interest of bank re-capitalisation. The motion then failed by 21 votes after SaS and Direction – Social Democracy (Smer–SD) abstained.^[1][2]

Smer-SD then came to an agreement with the governing coalition to support the measure in what party chairman and former prime minister Robert Fico called "the most important document of this period." He also explained the first round rejection of the measure as "saying 'no' to a rightist government, but we're saying 'yes' to the rescue fund." As per the agreement between the two parties, foreign minister Mikuláš Dzurinda (SDKÚ) said that, in return for Smer's support, a snap election would be called: "We decided that as the first point of [Thursday's] parliamentary session, we will work on a proposal to shorten the voting period, with the goal of organising an election on 10 March. Immediately after [13 October or 14 October] we will debate proposals related to the EFSF."^[3] On 13 October, following pressure from the European Union, which was in turn warned by the United States and China to get its finances in order, the motion was passed by a vote of 114–30 with 3 abstentions.^[4]

List of political parties

Below is the list of the 26 political parties participating in election with their names lowercased (number of candidates is in parentheses)^[5]

1. Greens (15)*
2. Christian Democratic Movement (150)
3. Party of the Democratic Left (150)
4. Slovak National Party (150)
5. Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (150)*
6. Freedom and Solidarity (150)
7. Law and Justice (150)*
8. Our Country (123)*
9. Green Party (100)*
10. People's Party – Our Slovakia (70)
11. Direction – Social Democracy (150)
12. Change from the Bottom, Democratic Union of Slovakia (53)*
13. Nation and Justice - Our Party (150)*
14. Communist Party of Slovakia (150)
15. Party of the Roma Union in Slovakia (32)*
16. Most–Híd (150)
17. 99 Percent – Civic Voice (111)*
18. People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (150)
19. Party +1 Vote (20)*
20. We are Doing it for the Children - SF (133)*
21. Ordinary People (34)*
22. Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (150)
23. Party of Slovak Citizens (148)*
24. Party of the Hungarian Coalition (150)
25. Free Word Party – of Nora Mojsejová (150)*
26. Union of the Slovak Self-Employed (28)*

* Political party did not take part in the last parliamentary election in 2010

The number of competing political parties in this election is the highest since the fall of communism in Slovakia in 1989. All participating parties had to register 90 days before the election and pay a fee of 16 596 euro (the fee is refunded to all parties who reach at least 2% of votes). All Slovak citizens are allowed to vote except for convicted prisoners, people declared ineligible to vote by court and citizens under 18 years of age.

Campaign

Numerous political scandals overshadowed the economic issues which led to the fall of the previous government:

• Controversial wiretapping by the Military Defense Intelligence (VOS) (The controversy is not of the wiretapping itself, but of evidence discovered during the wiretapping implicating the Governing Coalition 1998-2006 2010-2012 of major corruption)
• Gorilla scandal – a major political scandal surrounding corruption at the highest level in the government^[6]

In the run-up to the election, the Gorilla scandal (secret recordings of leading politicians in 2005–2006 showing political corruption) shook the political scene.^[7]

The campaign before the election was openly criticised by numerous Slovak personalities as being the first one since the fall of communism in which political programmes were completely replaced by political scandals and attacks. An open declaration condemning the campaign was signed by 16 personalities, including economist Juraj Stern, actor Milan Lasica and sociologist Martin Bútora.^[8] The campaign officially started on 18 February and continued up to, and including, election day.

Opinion polls

In January 2012 it became clear that the new centre-right party, Ordinary People, might enter parliament according to polls.^[9]

Election

The day before the election, about 1,000 protesters in Bratislava, the national capital, protested against the corruption brought to light by the Gorilla scandal, which later turned violent.

Voting took place between 7:00 and 22:00 at 5,956 polling stations.^[4] The Slovak Spectator reported that former Slovak citizens who had been granted Hungarian citizenship were prevented from voting because of an amendment to the Citizenship Act in 2010 which mandated that those who acquire citizenship of another country automatically have their Slovak citizenship rescinded.^[12]

Results

Smer 83   Christian Democratic Movement 16   Ordinary People 16   Most-Híd 13   SDKÚ-DS 11   Freedom and Solidarity 11

In 2010 parliamentary elections, Greens were called AZEN - Alliance for Europe of the Nations.

Map: Results in Districts

Reactions

Although Direction had won an absolute majority, Fico announced on election night that he would be willing to consult with other parties if they so wished. He also said that: "The European Union can lean on Smer because we realise that Slovakia, as a small country living in Europe and wanting to live in Europe ... desires to maintain the eurozone and the euro as a strong European currency."^[4] However, no other parties were willing to form coalition with Smer, leading Fico to form the second one-party government in Slovakia since 1993.

Analysis

The Economist called Fico "one of Europe's most successful centre-left politicians" after Smer-SD's win. It suggested that the "big loser" was the SDKÚ-DS' Dzurinda as a former prime minister "barely squeaked" into parliament and that, along with the SaS, were punished by voters for their failure to support the previous government's EU-backed Greek bailout. It further cited the high voter turnout saying that Slovaks had "matured politically" for not abstaining or threatening to invalidate the poll, yet it still cited smaller protests that were "rowdy." It pointed to the OLaNO's newcomer status as "starry-eyed" in attempting to "harness voters' discontent" and that as a result of the party's showing it would be "breathing down KDH's neck." The Economist pointed out that this was the first time since the breakup of Czechoslovakia that any party had won an absolute majority, though Smer-SD fell seven seats short of the three-fifths majority needed to unilaterally amend the constitution.^[13]

External links

• Slovak Election Data Project

References

Elections and referendums in Slovakia Parliamentary elections 1928 1935 1938 1948 1954 1960 1964 1968 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2012 2016 Presidential elections 1999 2004 2009 2014 Regional elections 2001 2005 2009 2013 Local elections 1923 1928 1935 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 European elections 2004 2009 2014 Referendums 1994 1997 1998 2000 2003 2004 2010 2015 See also: Elections in Czechoslovakia