By Chris Jones - 18th June 2006
Slovakia’s centre-left Smer party has won the country’s general election after voters turned against the centre-right government that championed EU entry.
Smer won 29 per cent of the vote, compared to just 18 per cent for the governing Christian democrats led by prime minister Mikuláš Dzurinda.
Robert Fico, the leader of Smer and likely successor to Dzurinda – he still has to form a coalition government – said that the Slovakian people had shown their anger at EU-friendly policies that led to rapid economic growth without concern for their social impact.
“Fast economic growth will no longer be for the benefit of a narrow group of people,” he told reporters after Sunday’s vote.
“I will steer the country back to human dignity and towards a sense of social justice.”
Slovak unemployment levels are extremely high, topping 16 per cent last year, and many Slovaks believe they were better off under communism, according to a recent poll.
Dzurinda, the longest-serving prime minister in the new EU members from central and eastern Europe, is widely respected by EU leaders as the architect of Slovakia’s economic growth, which is among the best in the region.
Fico has already pledged to scrap one of the key pieces of legislation introduced by Dzurinda’s government – a 19 per cent flat tax – which, along with low wage levels, has been credited with generating the high economic growth.
The new prime minister also warned that Slovakia’s bid to join the eurozone – planned for 2009 – could be delayed if it was “not favourable for the country”.
Centre-right European politicians have urged the new government not to undo all the good work achieved by Dzunda.
“I am confident that the significant achievements of the centre-right government in Slovakia need continuity,” said Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the centre-right group in the European parliament.
“Under the government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, [Slovakia] has been a model for political dialogue, steady economic growth and a policy respectful of minorities.”
The rejection of the pro-free market government will come as a blow for the European commission, which is increasingly keen to press for greater economic liberalisation.
The “liberal agenda” of commission president José Manuel Barroso has been widely criticised by centre-left politicians across the EU who argue that it has failed to take into account the social cost of free market economics.
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