Slovakia's ruling leftist party Smer and three small centrist and nationalist partners signed a coalition agreement on Tuesday, paving the way for a new government to be sworn in later this week. Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer won the most votes in a March 5 election but lost its majority by a big margin, raising uncertainty over whether a stable government could be formed before Bratislava takes over the European Union's rotating presidency later this year.
But Fico moved fast to cobble together a majority and is expected to be sworn in for a third term as premier on Wednesday or Thursday. He will then have 30 days to win a confidence vote in the 150-seat parliament, where the four parties hold 81 seats. While the government formation went smoothly, ideological differences between Fico and two centre-right coalition parties, and animosity between a party representing the Hungarian minority and Slovak nationalists, raise questions over how long the coalition will last.
Four backbenchers from two small coalition parties have crossed over to the opposition in protest at their leadership joining forces with Fico. "Support for the cabinet in parliament will depend on small centre-right parties, whose parliamentary groups have already started to fragment ... there is a high risk that Fico's multi-party coalition will unravel before the parliamentary term is over," Otilia Dhand from consultancy Teneo Intelligence said.
Fico defended his course of action, saying a strong government based on wide compromise was needed to respond to threats such as bomb attacks like those in Brussels on Tuesday. "The only alternative is chaos, an undemocratic caretaker government or nonsensical early election," Fico said after chiefs of the four parties - Smer (Direction), the Slovak National Party, Most-Hid (Bridge) and Net (Siet) signed the coalition agreement.
Comments
Comments are closed.