Slovakia’s prime minister has resigned and been replaced by an interim, deepening the country’s political crisis months before an election that looks likely to be won by a Moscow-friendly party that opposes more military aid in Ukraine
Central bank deputy governor Ľudovít Ódor was due to become the leader of a technocrat government this week after Prime Minister Eduard Heger, himself acting as an interpreter since losing his majority last September, leave the post on Sunday.
Under Heger’s center-right government, elected in 2021, Slovakia, a member of the EU and NATO, has proven a strong supporter of Kiev since Russia’s invasion, sending weapons and, last month, its fleet withdrawal of Soviet-made MiG fighters.
But polls suggest the left-wing populist opposition Smer-SD party led by former prime minister Robert Fico, which has opposed military aid to Ukraine and blamed “Ukrainian fascists” for having started the war there in 2014, is on course to win the September 30 election. .
Fico, who was leader from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, has also criticized “Western propaganda” and said it would force the diversion of arms shipments elsewhere and veto more “useless” sanctions on Russia
Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová appointed Ódor, 46, as interim leader, the country’s third prime minister since the 2020 election, on Sunday afternoon after returning from the coronation of King Charles III in London, and said he would take up the position during the week.
The country’s political landscape has become increasingly fragmented as Heger’s coalition has been progressively weakened by rising energy and food costs and the impact of the war in Ukraine. He resigned after a series of ministerial resignations.
The agriculture and foreign affairs ministers were the latest to resign last week, leaving Heger officially in charge of several ministries, including finance, as jobs cannot be filled while the government acts as to provisional
“I decided to ask the president to withdraw my authority and to leave the space of the president to try with a technocratic government to stably and peacefully lead Slovakia to democratic parliamentary elections,” Heger said.
Parliament ousted Heger’s government in a no-confidence vote in December after the four-party coalition lost its majority when the libertarian SaS party quit, unhappy with efforts to ease the cost-of-living crisis.
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Fico has blamed EU sanctions for cutting off oil and gas to Russia, the country’s main pre-war supplier. His Smer-SD party leads the polls with approximately 17%, ahead of a separatist party, Hlas (Voice), formed by his immediate successor as prime minister, Peter Pellegrini.
Nine parties could win seats, including a new party created by Heger. Fico, who if he wins could struggle to form a new coalition, resigned in 2018 after widespread anti-corruption protests over the murder of an investigative journalist and his partner.
