2012 Slovak parliamentary election

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.

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." 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.

Participating parties

Campaign

The number of competing political parties in the 2012 elections was 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 felons in prison (only those, who were convicted for serious offenses), people declared ineligible to perform legal acts (legally insane) by court and citizens under 18 years of age.

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

In the run-up to the elections the Gorilla scandal (secret recordings of leading politicians in 2005–2006 showing political corruption) shook the political scene.

The campaign was openly criticised for being the first one since the fall of communism in which political scandals and personal attacks replaced policy discussion. An open declaration condemning the campaign was signed by 16 prominent Slovaks, including economist Juraj Stern, actor Milan Lasica and sociologist Martin Bútora. The campaign officially started on 18 February and continued up to, and including, election day.

Opinion polls

In January 2012, polls projected that a new centre-right party, Ordinary People, would enter the National Council.

Conduct

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. 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.

Results

File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 SMER.png|SMER File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 KDH.png|KDH File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 OLANO.png|OĽANO File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 MostHid.png|Most-Híd File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 SDKUDS.png|SDKÚ-DS File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 SaS.png|SaS File:Results Slovak parliament elections 2012 SNS.png|SNS

Reactions

Although Direction 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." However, no other parties were willing to form coalition with Smer, leading Fico to form the first 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 (59.1) 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.

References

References

1. Cameron, Rob. "BBC News – Slovakia votes down eurozone bailout expansion plans". BBC.
2. "Slovak lawmakers reject eurozone's revamped EFSF rescue fund". Bangkok Post.
3. Hewitt, Gavin. "Slovak rivals reach deal to back EU bailout fund". BBC News.
4. (4 October 2011). "Slovakia approves expanded EU-bailout fund – Europe". Al Jazeera English.
5. [http://www.minv.sk/?volby-nrsr National Council Elections - Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic]
6. K.M.. (27 January 2012). "Scandal in Slovakia: The multi-million euro gorilla". The Economist.
7. (16 January 2012). "Polls predict no clear outcome yet". The Slovak Spectator.
8. (5 March 2012). "Level of pre-election campaign is grim according to personalities of culture". TA3.
9. (20 January 2012). "Gorilla continues its political rampage". The Slovak Spectator.
10. Focus Research: [http://www.focus-research.sk/files/137_Preferencie%20politickych%20stran_september2011.pdf 2011/09], [http://www.focus-research.sk/files/138_Preferencie%20politickych%20stran_november_2011.pdf 2011/11], [http://www.focus-research.sk/files/139_Preferencie%20politickych%20stran_december_2011.pdf 2011/12], [http://www.focus-research.sk/files/140_Preferencie%20politickych%20stran_januar_2012.pdf 2012/01], [http://focus-research.sk/files/141_Preferencie%20politickych%20stran_februar_2012.pdf 2012/02]
11. (20 January 2010). "ELECTION 2012: Poll: Smer on 40%; OĽaNO and SMK on course for seats". Spectator.sme.sk.
12. (10 March 2012). "Election 2012: Some Slovak voters prevented from voting by officials". The Slovak Spectator.
13. (11 March 2012). "Slovakia's election: Slovakia turns left". The Economist.