(30 Sep 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava - 30 September 2023
1. Wide of Progressive Slovakia party leader Michal Simecka walking onto stage
2. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Michal Simecka, leader of Progressive Slovakia party:
“We don’t know what the numbers will be, but I have a feeling that what we’ve offered resonated with our voters. And I also believe it’s good news as there are so many people in Slovakia who wish a dignified European future for their country and their families.”
3. Various of Simecka on stage while Progressive Slovakia supporters are clapping
4. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Michal Simecka, leader of Progressive Slovakia party:
“I want to state here clearly, that whatever will be the output of this election, Progressive Slovakia, we will except it with humility. We have done everything we could with all our knowledge and with all of our energy. And now everything is only in the hands of the voters.”
5. Wide of supporters clapping
6. Pan of Simecka leaving stage

STORYLINE:
The leader of the pro-West Progressive Slovakia party Michal Simecka said he would accept the results of the country's parliamentary election "with humility" whatever the outcome.

Simecka delivered his speech at his party’s election headquarters on Saturday in Bratislava, while voters were still at the polls.

He admitted to feeling hopeful over the result and acknowledged that many voters wished for a "dignified European future."

The early parliamentary election pits 39-year-old liberal Simecka against the populist former prime minister Robert Fico who campaigned on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.

While the liberal Progressive Slovakia sees the country’s future as firmly tied to its existing membership in the EU and NATO, former prime minister Fico, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party have vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine if his attempt to return to power is successful.

Progressive Slovakia not only vowed to continue Slovakia’s support for Ukraine, it also favours LGBTQ+ rights, a rarity among the major parties in a country that is a stronghold of conservative Roman Catholicism.

Popular among young people, the party won the 2019 European Parliament election in Slovakia in coalition with the Together party, gaining more than 20% of the vote. But it narrowly failed to win seats in the national parliament in 2020.

No party is expected to win a majority of seats Saturday, meaning a coalition government will need to be formed.

AP Video shot by Bela Szandelszky

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