BRATISLAVA: Slovakia’s leftist leader Robert Fico on Sunday assured Brussels he was a partner to rely on after a landslide election victory that will oust a government that collapsed over whether to back euro zone bailouts.
A triumphant Fico said his centre-left Smer had won an outright majority in parliament, in line with near complete results, but said he was ready to take on a coalition partner if any of the other parties were ready to support his agenda.
A government led by the pro-European, 47-year-old lawyer would please Slovakia’s euro zone partners, who were upset by the outgoing centre-right coalition’s refusal to contribute to the first bailout of Greece and the delaying of the rescue fund.
‘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 euro zone and the euro as a strong European currency,’ Fico said at his party headquarters, to the cheers and applause of supporters.
Results from 97.9 per cent of districts showed Smer took 44.8 per cent of the vote on Saturday, which would give it 84 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Fico’s sweeping victory knocked his reformist rival Mikulas Dzurinda’s centre-right SDKU out of power after the SDKU-led coalition fell apart in October after less than two years.
Damaged by allegations of graft, Dzurinda’s party won just 5.9 per cent, according to the partial results, just over a third of what it won in the last election in 2010. But it seemed set to avoid being knocked out of parliament altogether.
Fico’s landslide is an unprecedented victory for any single party in Slovakia’s 19-year independent history, and reminds of a sweeping win by the centre-right Fidesz party of Viktor Orban against discredited left in neighbouring Hungary in 2010. Final results were expected to be released later on Sunday. The unrivalled leader of his centre-left party, Fico says he plans to use tax hikes to maintain welfare and cut the budget deficit, and continue the outgoing cabinet’s effort to protect the country’s sovereign credit ratings.
The country of 5.4 million people, which has maintained more investor confidence than other periphery euro zone states, has budget deficit targets of 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product this year and 3 percent in 2013. (Reuters)