On Sunday, former Prime Minister Robert Fico suddenly won Slovakia’s parliamentary elections with a landslide victory that was not expected at all. He did so thanks to his campaign, which included aspects regarding further support for Ukraine.
Fico and his party SMER received 22.9% of the vote after 99.98% of the votes cast at around 6,000 polling stations were counted, according to the Slovak Statistical Office, with Progressive Slovakia coming second with 18% of the vote.
Although Fico won the election, he needs a coalition with other parties to form a government.
Turning to the challenges for Ukraine after Fico won the majority, one can be sure that Fico is completely indifferent to the Ukrainian crisis. Ukraine’s NATO membership is also becoming a big question mark.
Fico promised his voters that if he wins, he will undoubtedly stop supporting Ukraine. In 2022, by the way, Slovakia was the first-ever country to send air defence assets, Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, to S-300 air defence system, helicopters, and armoured vehicles. One word, Slovakia has done so much for Ukraine so far. Furthermore, Fico called for an end to arms to Kyiv. He clearly stated that if he is in power, Slovakia “will not send another round of ammunition.”
Fico is one of those politicians who believe it is necessary to address the topic of negotiations, to sit down at the negotiating table instead of spilling blood, keep on the violence. The difficulty is also that it is really difficult for many countries to support Ukraine, because the opinions opposing the official government also have their price and influence.
The consequences may be found in different forms of itself for Ukraine. As far as it is known Slovakia was the first country to start support, it also could become the first country to stop that. Thus, the chain reaction may become irreversible.
