2020 Slovak parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020. All 150 members of the National Council were elected and the leader of the resultant government party or coalition will become the Prime Minister.

Slovak parliamentary election 2020

29 February 2020
All 150 seats in the National Council 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	2,916,840 (65.80%) 5.98 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Igor Matovič Peter Pellegrini[lower-alpha 1] Boris Kollár Party OĽaNO Smer–SD We Are Family Leader since 2011 2019 2015 Last election 19 seats, 11.0% 49 seats, 28.3% 11 seats, 6.6% Seats won 53 38 17 Seat change 34 11 6 Popular vote 720,723 526,889 237,398 Percentage 25.0% 18.3% 8.2% Swing 14.0 pp 10.0 pp 1.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Marian Kotleba Richard Sulík Andrej Kiska Party ĽSNS SaS For the People Leader since 2010 2009 2019 Last election 14 seats, 8.0% 21 seats, 12.1% New party Seats won 17 13 12 Seat change 3 8 12 Popular vote 229,581 179,103 166,209 Percentage 8.0% 6.3% 5.8% Swing 0.0 pp 5.8 pp 5.8 pp
Results of the election, showing vote strength by district.
Prime Minister before election Peter Pellegrini Smer–SD Prime Minister Igor Matovič OĽaNO

The ruling coalition comprising Direction – Social Democracy (Smer–SD), the Slovak National Party and Most–Híd led by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini of Smer–SD was defeated by the anti-corruption party Ordinary People led by Igor Matovič. However, as no single party or electoral coalition attained an absolute majority of seats, a post-election coalition was required to form a government.[1][2][3][4] It was the first time since the 2006 election that Smer–SD did not emerge as the party with the most seats in the National Council. On 13 March, Matovič announced he had reached an agreement for a governing coalition with We Are Family, Freedom and Solidarity and For the People, though they had not agreed upon a common governing program.

Background

Smer–SD won a plurality of seats in the 2016 election and formed a coalition government with nationalist Slovak National Party, inter-ethnic Most-Híd and centre-right Network. Incumbent prime minister Robert Fico remained in office[5] until 2018 when Peter Pellegrini took over.

The 2019 European Parliament election in Slovakia took place on 25 May 2019. With a turnout of 22.7%, the election was won by PS–SPOLU (20.1%), followed by Smer–SD (15.7%), ĽSNS (12.1%), KDH (9.7%), and SaS (9.6%), and OĽaNO (5.3%).[6]

Electoral system

The 150 members of the National Council will be elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with an electoral threshold of 5% for single parties, 7% for coalition groupings with two or three parties, and 10% for coalitions of four or more parties. The elections use the open list system, with seats allocated using the Hagenbach-Bischoff system. Voters will be able to cast up to four preferential votes for candidates on the list of the party they voted for.[7]

All participating parties must register 90 days before election day and pay a deposit of €17,000, which will be refunded to all parties gaining 3% or more of the vote. All Slovak citizens are allowed to vote except for convicted felons in prison (only those who were convicted for serious offences), people declared ineligible to perform legal acts by court and citizens under 18 years of age. All citizens, who are 21 years of age or older and are permanent residents of Slovakia, are allowed to run as candidates except for prisoners, convicted felons and those declared ineligible to perform legal acts by court.[8]

Voters not present in their electoral district at the time of the elections are allowed to request a voting certificate (voličský preukaz), which allows them to vote in any district regardless of their residency.[9] Voters abroad on election day are allowed to request a postal vote.[10] According to the Central Election Committee approx. 20,000 Slovak citizens abroad have requested a postal vote during the last election. The deadline for requests passed on 10 January 2020.

Leadership changes

The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and Party of the Hungarian Community (SMK-MKP) were two parties which couldn't pass the 5 percent threshold to the parliament in 2016 but further gained more than 4% (KDH got 4,9 percent, while SMK-MKP got 4,1 percent). KDH lost all of its 16 seats while SMK-MKP haven't gained any. Leader of the KDH, Ján Figeľ, announced his resignation few days after 2016 election. He was then replaced by Alojz Hlina on 11 June 2016.[11] Leadership of the SMK-MKP, which was led by József Berényi, was taken over by József Menyhárt on 11 June 2016.[12]

On 12 August 2016, incumbent leader of coalition party Network (SIEŤ), Radoslav Procházka, announced that he had no further intention to lead his party after a disastrous result in the election. A day later on 13 August at the party convention, it was decided that the new leader of the party would be Roman Brecely, his fellow party member and incumbent minister of transportation. He was the only candidate to stand up for the post although he didn't intend to run for the office.[13]

On 15 March 2018, Robert Fico announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Slovakia which the President Andrej Kiska accepted. Peter Pellegrini, currently Deputy Prime Minister for Investment & Informatization, has become the new Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. Fico has remained the leader of Smer–SD, and kept his parliamentary mandate. Pellegrini's cabinet was appointed on 22 March 2018.

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election

30 day average trend line (15 day average from 2016-03-05, 30 days before 2023 election) of Slovak polls towards the election in 2020, each line corresponds to a political party.

Results

The ruling coalition comprising Direction – Social Democracy (Smer–SD), the Slovak National Party and Most–Híd led by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini of Smer–SD was defeated by the anti-corruption party Ordinary People led by Igor Matovič. However, as no single party or electoral coalition attained an absolute majority of seats, a post-election coalition will be required to form a government.[14][15][16][17] It is likely to consist of at least the three centre-right and moderate conservative parties: Ordinary People, Freedom and Solidarity and For the People - which would together hold a total of 78 seats, but may also include the right-wing We Are Family party - which would expand the potential coalition's support to a constitutional majority total of 95 seats.[18] This election was also the first time since the 2006 election that Smer–SD did not emerge as the party with the most seats in the National Council. The coalition of Progressive Slovakia and SPOLU failed to meet the 7% threshold for two-party coalitions to enter parliament by only 926 votes, surprising analysts, as they had been several percentage points above the threshold required in opinion polls as recently as a few days before the election, and polled above the threshold in exit polls taken on election day. The coalition submitted an electoral complaint with the Constitutional Court on 12 March seeking a recount, although they did not have any expectation it would significantly change the results, and only did so in order to clear doubts about the democratic process.[19]

Results of the election, showing vote strength for each party by district.

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	+/–
	OĽANO–NOVA–KU–ZMENA ZDOLA	721,166	25.02	+13.99	53	+34
	Direction – Social Democracy	527,172	18.29	–9.99	38	–11
	We Are Family	237,531	8.24	+1.61	17	+6
	Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia	229,660	7.97	–0.07	17	+3
	Progressive Slovakia–SPOLU	200,780	6.96	New	0	New
	Freedom and Solidarity	179,246	6.22	–5.88	13	–8
	For the People	166,325	5.77	New	12	New
	Christian Democratic Movement	134,099	4.65	–0.29	0	0
	Party of the Hungarian Community	112,662	3.90	–0.15	0	0
	Slovak National Party	91,171	3.16	–5.48	0	–15
	Good Choice	88,220	3.06	New	0	New
	HOMELAND	84,507	2.93	New	0	New
	Most–Híd	59,174	2.05	–4.45	0	–11
	Socialisti.sk	15,925	0.55	New	0	New
	WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!	9,260	0.32	New	0	New
	Andrej Hlinka's Slovak People's Party	8,191	0.28	New	0	New
	Democratic Party	4,194	0.14	+0.14	0	0
	Solidarity – Working Poverty Movement	3,296	0.11	New	0	New
	Mayors and Independents	2,018	0.07	New	0	New
	Slovak Revival Movement	1,966	0.06	New	0	New
	Voice of the Right	1,887	0.06	New	0	New
	Labour of Slovak Nation	1,261	0.04	New	0	New
	99 Percent – Civic Voice	991	0.03	New	0	New
	Slovak League	809	0.02	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		35,329	–	–	–	–
Total		2,916,840	100	0	150	0
Registered voters/turnout		4,432,419	65.80	–	–	–
Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

Popular vote OĽANO–NOVA   25.02% SMER–SD   18.29% RODINA   8.24% KOTLEBA–ĽSNS   7.97% PS-SPOLU   6.96% SaS   6.22% ZA ĽUDÍ   5.77% Other   21.53%

National Council seats OĽANO–NOVA   35.33% SMER–SD   25.33% RODINA   11.33% KOTLEBA–ĽSNS   11.33% SaS   8.67% ZA ĽUDÍ   8.00%

Government formation

On 4 March, Matovič was tasked by president Čaputová to form a new government.[20] On 13 March, Matovič announced he had reached an agreement for a governing coalition with We Are Family, Freedom and Solidarity and For the People, though they had not agreed upon a common governing program. He has not disclosed his picks for the new cabinet, which are due to President Caputova on 14 March, but said that OĽaNO would retain the finance ministry and Richard Sulík, the leader of Freedom and Solidarity, would be economy minister.[21]

References

1. "Anti-corruption party wins Slovakia election". BBC News. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
2. France-Presse, Agence (1 March 2020). "Slovakia election: seismic shift as public anger ousts dominant Smer-SD party". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
3. "Slovakia's anti-corruption opposition party wins election". euronews. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
4. Mortkowitz, Siegfried (29 February 2020). "Anti-corruption opposition wins Slovakia election". POLITICO. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
5. "New Slovak Government and Posts". Nový Čas. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
6. "Voľby do Európskeho parlamentu". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
7. "Slovakia Národná rada (National Council) Electoral System". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
8. "Prieskum: Voľby by vyhral Smer, OĽaNO-NOVA mimo parlamentu". Pravda (in Slovak). 9 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
9. "Hlasovací preukaz, Ministerstvo vnútra SR - Verejná správa" (in Slovak). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
10. "Voľba poštou, Ministerstvo vnútra SR - Verejná správa" (in Slovak). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
11. "Alojz Hlina is the new leader of KDH". Aktuality. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
12. "József Menyhárt is the new leader of SMK-MKP". TVNoviny. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
13. "Roman Brecely is the new leader of Network (SIEŤ) coalition party, he was only candidate". TA3. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
14. "Anti-corruption party wins Slovakia election". BBC News. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
15. France-Presse, Agence (1 March 2020). "Slovakia election: seismic shift as public anger ousts dominant Smer-SD party". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
16. "Slovakia's anti-corruption opposition party wins election". euronews. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
17. Mortkowitz, Siegfried (29 February 2020). "Anti-corruption opposition wins Slovakia election". POLITICO. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
18. "Election 2020: Matovič's government with Kollár will be more stable, says political scientist Abrahám". Topky (in Slovak). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
19. Francelová, Nina Hrabovská (12 March 2020). "PS/Spolu has submitted an election complaint. What are the odds the results might change?". The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
20. Slovak President Asks Corruption Fighter to Form New Government
21. "Slovak election winner secures four-party coalition with cabinet deal". Reuters. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.

1. Only the election leader, chairman Robert Fico