(1 Oct 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava - 1 October 2023
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Michal Simecka, leader of Progressive Slovakia party:
"Well, first of all, I reiterated my thanks to everyone who voted, and especially those who voted for progressive Slovakia. This is a very strong result for our party. With 18% - over half a million votes - it's the strongest result for any Liberal Party in our modern history. And of course, that was despite all the dirty tricks and attacks in the campaign. Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that Smer is the winner. And we, of course, respect that, although we think it's bad news for the country. And it will be even worse news if Mr. Fico forms a government. Therefore, I will be in touch with other political leaders whose parties were elected to Parliament on an informal basis to discuss ways of ways of preventing that. Realistically, there are two options at, you know, at the table. One is a government led by Mr. Fico and the other one is a coalition made up of progressive Slovakian and other partners, which would in fact have over 80 MPs. But we fully respect the fact that the president, as she has said before, is likely to nominate Mr. Fico, too, to give it a try first. We'll see. (Journalists ask question) We'll have the discussions and we'll see. Because as I said, we think it would be really bad news for the country, for our democracy, for our rule of law, and and for our international standing and for our finances and for our economy if Mr. Fico forms a government."
STORYLINE:
The leader of the Progressive Slovakia party on Sunday said the victory of the populist Smer party led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico is "bad news for the country".
Robert Fico and the leftist Smer, or Direction, party led with 22.9%, the Slovak Statistics Office said early Sunday after completing the count of 99.98% of the votes from some 6,000 polling stations.
Speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, Michal Simecka said while there was a "strong result" for his party, "the fact of the matter is that Smer is the winner".
However, he said he would be contacting other political leaders whose parties were elected to parliament "on an informal basis" to discuss ways of preventing Fico from forming a government.
"We fully respect the fact that the president, as she has said before, is likely to nominate Mr. Fico, too, to give it a try first...we think it would be really bad news for the country, for our democracy, for our rule of law, and and for our international standing and for our finances and for our economy if Mr. Fico forms a government."
The election was a test for the small eastern European country’s support for neighboring Ukraine in its war with Russia, and the win by Fico could strain a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.
Fico vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine in Russia’s war if his attempt to return to power succeeded.
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