More Smer
Slovakia’s 2012 Parliamentary Election
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Slovakia’s new strong man is Robert Fico. For the first time since the democratic upheaval of 1989, Fico, together with his party Smer, succeeded in winning a majority in the March 2012 election that makes it possible to form a single party government. In his first term, 2006-2010, Fico pursued a left-wing, populist course. Now the party has changed. It remains to be seen whether Smer will in fact act as a social democratic party, especially on the issues of democracy, rule of law, and minority protection.
(Osteuropa 3/2012, pp. 69–78)