Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico faces shock defeat in European Union polls after assassination attempt

Bratislava:

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered a shock EU election defeat to the opposition Liberals on Sunday, weeks after he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt, his party said.

Fico’s left-wing nationalist party Smer-SD expressed “congratulations to the winner of the elections, Progressive Slovakia” and its new members of the European parliament, on its Facebook page.

Fico, 59, opposes military aid to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Latest opinion polls indicated that he was the favorite to lead the vote, in what was seen as a sign that the assassination attempt had increased support for his party.

Progressive Slovakia (PS) won 27.81 percent of the vote in Sunday’s elections, meaning six seats in the European Parliament, according to results widely reported in Slovak media before their official publication.

Smer-SD won 24.76 percent, giving it five seats in the 720-member EU assembly.

The far-right Republika party came in third place with 12.53 percent and two seats, the results showed.

Fico was shot four times at close range on May 15 while greeting supporters after a government meeting.

The alleged shooter, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, has been charged with attempted premeditated murder and is in custody.

In a video released on Wednesday, Fico blamed his opponents for fomenting the “hatred” that led to the attack.

Political analyst Daniel Kerekes suggested that the attack mobilized PS supporters to vote as much as Smer-SD supporters.

“It was not just Smer-SD that took advantage of the attack. Opposition parties, especially the PS, whose voters are worried about the situation in Slovakia, have also made significant progress,” he told AFP.

PS president Michal Simecka, former vice-president of the European Parliament, said voters sent “a very important message to this government: slow down, because they can’t do what they want.”

Turnout was higher than in the country’s previous EU elections, at just under 35 percent.

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