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3/2/20

Slovakia General Elections: Slovakia kicks out centre-left rulers - by Andrew Rettman

The centre-right opposition Ordinary People party claimed victory in the parliamentary election in Slovakia.

The party won 25% of the vote and 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament in a move that steered the country to the right, according to results released by the Statistics Office.

Slovakia has been dominated by the social democratic left-wing populists SMER-SD, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, since 2006. In the 2016 election, the leftist party gained 28.3% of votes after campaigning on an anti-migrant ticket.

This time, the SMER-SD party came in second with 18.3% of the vote, winning about 38 seats.

Since the February 2018 murder of journalist Jan Kuciak — who had been investigating the misuse of EU funds in Slovakia, tax fraud and alleged ties between government officials and the Italian mafia — the party’s popularity tumbled.

"After Ján Kuciak's murder, a massive breakthrough occurred in a part of society. The people's cup of patience had flowed over," Slovak political analyst Marián Sekerák told Euronews.

Read more at: Slovakia kicks out centre-left rulers

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