site.btaPerformance of Progressive Slovakia in EP Elections "Somewhat Surprising", Slovak Journalist Says

The strong performance of the liberal Progressive Slovakia in the EP elections was "somewhat surprising", according to Andrej Matisak, Deputy Chief of Foreign Desk and Reporter at Slovakia's Pravda daily. He was speaking to BTA after his country votes to elect its representatives in the EP. He also finds surprising the strong result of the nationalist Republika party which, he said, had managed to attract the pro-Russian and eurosceptic groups in society.

Progressive Slovakia won the most votes in the elections. The ruling SMER, achieved nearly the same results with a bit more than 24.8%. "This result is somewhat unexpected because, according to the polls, SMER was rising, especially after the assassination attempt against Prime Minister Robert Fico. However, it seems that Slovak voters have decided to alter the political landscape in Slovakia somewhat."

Progressive Slovakia appears to voters as the political force most capable of opposing the government, Matisak said.

The third political party, Republika, is a far-right party of which the journalist says that is so extreme they were unable to find real allies in the European Parliament. In the outgoing parliament, they had one MP; now they will have two. "They represent a very far-right segment of Slovak society, one that is very pro-Russian and anti-EU. Even though Republika is not currently campaigning for leaving the EU, they claim they want to reform it. The political scene is highly fragmented, making it difficult to describe comprehensively. However, we can identify three major political camps in this election. The first is the liberal camp, represented by Progressive Slovakia. The second is the populist, leftist-nationalist camp, represented by SMER and Hlas. The third camp, Republika, is closer to nationalistic populism but still distinct due to its far-right views."