Polling stations have opened in Slovakia for voting in the European Parliament elections, the Republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced.
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“The elections will be held from 07.00 to 22.00,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
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Citizens of Slovakia will elect 15 European deputies for a five-year term, this is the fifth election to the European Parliament in the republic. A total of 22 parties and one coalition are participating in the elections. The turnout for the elections, which took place on May 25, 2019, was 22.74%, which was the highest figure in the history of elections to the European Parliament in the country.
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The latest public opinion polls, which were conducted in Slovakia by various research agencies at the end of May – beginning of June, indicated that the greatest support was gained by the Smer-SD party (“Direction – Social Democracy”), which is headed by Prime Minister of the Republic Robert Fico, who opposes further armament of Ukraine.
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Fico, whose party won parliamentary elections in Slovakia in the fall of 2023, has repeatedly opposed arms supplies to Ukraine and its membership in NATO. In his opinion, the latter would mean the beginning of the third world war. He also spoke out against sending military personnel to Ukraine. In mid-May, after a government retreat, there was an assassination attempt on Fico. The attacker fired five shots, and the police detained him on the spot.
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In a video message that the prime minister made three weeks after the assassination attempt, he said that it was not a “lone madman” who shot him, but an opposition activist. Fico believes that the reason for the attack was his political views.
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The Slovak Ministry of Internal Affairs also previously reported that the shooter was motivated by political motives and did not agree with the actions of the Cabinet of Ministers, including his opposition to stopping arms supplies to Ukraine. He faces 25 years to life in prison. The republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs initially reported that the man acted alone, but investigators are also checking the version that he had accomplices.
