The populist social democratic party Smer, of the former pro-Russian prime minister Robert Ficohas won the Slovakia’s early general election with 23.3% of the votes, according to the complete count.

Although the first estimates based on exit polls had initially given the pro-European progressive party PS, of the vice-president of the European Parliament Michal Simecka, as a possible winner, it finally came in second place with 17.1% of the votes. In third place was the moderate social democratic formation ‘The Voice’ (Hlas), of former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, a former ally of Fico, with 14.9%, according to the count of 99.5% of the votes.

After a high participation68.51%compared to the 65.80% that was reached in the last elections, a total of seven parties enter the National Council (Parliament), among them the nationalist SNS, with 5.6%, which has already been part of coalitions with the social democrats in the past.

Social democracy, with a social message of defense of the citizen, harassed by high inflation, and also with a anti-immigration rhetoric and criticism of aid to Ukraineespecially on Smer’s side, has penetrated, and his vote has skyrocketed, which in the 2020 elections had achieved only 18%.

The formations on the left of the political spectrum, Fico’s Smer and Pellegrini’s La Voz, co-religionists for two decades, now account for 37% of the vote, and a third party, like the SNS, would be enough to form a stable coalition. In the case of Simecka’s progressives, their natural coalition partners would be the liberals of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), who achieved 6.3% of the votes.

Other lists, such as the former governor OLaNo, with 8%, or the conservative party KHD, with 6.8%, could also join the PS, although analysts predict that this would be more complicated.

The Smer was the dominant political force in the country until 2018, when the murder of a journalist investigation, which had denounced the relations between organized crime and the upper echelons of power, caused a wave of indignation, which ended up forcing the Fico’s resignation.