The murder of journalist Jan Kuciak two years ago changed Slovakia. And now the political maps have been redistributed. Initial forecasts indicate that the opposition will face a landslide victory.
The protest party OLANO of the entrepreneur Igor Matovic is by far the strongest political force in Slovakia. Post-election surveys by television stations see the center-right party in more than 25 percent of the vote. The 46-year-old Matovic had campaigned against corruption in the election campaign and positioned himself as a counterpart to the established parties. The abbreviation OLANO stands for “normal people and independent personalities”. Four years ago, the collection movement was 11 percent.
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini’s Social Democrats (Smer-SD) suffer heavy losses and land at 14.9 or 13.9 percent (2016: 28.3 percent) depending on the poll. His previous coalition partners, the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Hungarian minority Most-Hid, are unlikely to miss the five-percent hurdle for entry into the National Council, the unicameral parliament in Bratislava.
