This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/green_flash on 2023-10-01 17:18:13.
Robert Fico doubles down on pro-Russia stance after Slovakia election win
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Slovakia’s populist former prime minister, Robert Fico, who campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine, has said his position “has not changed” after his party’s clear election win made him favourite to lead the country for a fourth time.
Fico told reporters he was waiting for Slovakia’s president to give him a mandate to start forming a government – expected on Monday – after officials said on Sunday that Smer-SD had scored 22.9% in Saturday’s vote with 99.98% of ballots counted.
The liberal, pro-western Progressive Slovakia (PS) party finished second on just under 18%, with Hlas – a spin-off from Smer formed after Fico was forced to resign in 2018 over political turmoil surrounding the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée – third on almost 15%.
Milan Nič, of the German council on foreign relations, called Smer’s victory a “stunning political revival for a veteran populist who is still entangled in corruption cases”, adding that Pellegrini would likely be offered the job of parliamentary speaker.
Analysts have, however, said Fico, who was pragmatic during previous mandates, may cool his rhetoric in a coalition with Hlas, which has said ammunition supplies to Ukraine are good for Slovakia’s industry and backed the EU’s stance on the invasion.
Several experts noted that one of the election’s big surprises was the failure of the far-right Republika party, long seen as a potential Smer partner, to clear the 5% threshold for a seat in parliament, despite polling at between 7% and 10% for much of the year.
The original article contains 761 words, the summary contains 257 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!