Opposition party Ol'ano is the winner of Saturday's general election with 25 percent of the vote, equaling 53 seats in Parliament, according to results published by the Slovak Statistics Office. Smer-SD came in second with 18.3 percent (38 seats), followed by Sme rodina (We Are Family) at 8.2 percent (17 seats). The far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) with 7.9 percent of the votes will have 17 seats too, while SaS (Freedom and Solidarity and Za ludi (For the People) have also made it into Parliament with 6.2 and 5.7 percent getting 13 and 12 seats respectively. The voter turnout stood at 65.8 percent.
Ol'ano leader Igor Matovič stressed that he had had two goals for this election: to defeat Smer-SD, and take voters away from the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia. As for the future:
"We want to have a constitutional majority in Parliament (at least 90 votes) in order to be able to push through major changes, for example in the judiciary. I'd like to be a good prime minister. I want voters who didn't vote for us to say it's a good government as well. This is what I wish for, and this is a goal that pushes me forward," said Matovič, adding that he is ready to negotiate with Boris Kollar, leader of the Sme rodina (We are family) party. As he ruled out any cooperation with Smer or the far-right, the other potential members of a governing coalition led by Ol'ano are SaS (Freedom and Solidarity) and Za ludi (For the People).
As for the Smer party, their election leader and outgoing Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini expressed their satisfaction that Smer-SD didn't fall as low as predicted by the first exit polls. Pellegrini blames the Opposition, the media and NGOs for creating an anti-Smer atmosphere before elections.
"I'll apply for the post of parliamentary vice-chair in the new Parliament, if such an opportunity arises. We will be the strongest opposition party so I think we should get such a position," said Pellegrini.
The liberal coalition PS/Spolu (Progressive Slovakia-Together) failed by a whisker to cross the 7 percent threshold needed for a coalition to enter Parliament, despite massive support from Slovaks living abroad.Coalition leader Michal Truban has posted on a social network that he regrets very much that the coalition won't be able to represent people in parliament. "We'll consider it, fix things and continue to fight for that Slovakia that we imagine," Truban wrote.
The Christian Democrats (KDH) will remain outside Parliament, having garnered only 4.6 percent of the vote. The same is true for the two junior members of the outgoing governing coalition, the Slovak National Party and Most-Hid. The latter's leader, Bela Bugar, has already announced his resignation from the party's top position.
Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová is ready for the start of political negotiations on forming a new government, TASR press agency has learnt from the president's spokesman Martin Strižinec, who added that the president will announce on Monday (March 2) what she will do next.
