Slovakia was haunted by ghosts of its past on Sunday after far-right militants who have donned uniforms modelled on a World War Two Nazi puppet state won seats in parliament for the first time.
The People's Party-Our Slovakia group led by Marian Kotleba, the governor of central Slovakia who has organised marches against the Roma minority, took eight percent of the vote, nearly three times more than polls had predicted.
As the European Union faces the worst refugee crisis since World War Two from war-torn Syria and beyond, support for far-right politicians in central Europe has been on the rise.
In Hungary, the Jobbik party, known for its Hungarian Guard uniforms and anti-Roma marches, is the second largest party in the parliament.
Analysts say the far right capitalised on the anti-immigration rhetoric from most mainstream parties including Prime Minister Robert Fico, who won the election but may find it very hard if not impossible to form a new government.
"Robert Fico has taken one of the toughest attitudes to the migration crisis among the EU politicians but the result was not extremists under control but extremists in the parliament," Dalibor Rohac from the American Enterprise Institute said.
Kotleba's success comes as a shock for the media and mainstream politicians.
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