The level of democracy in Slovakia has declined by 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, to stand at 3.2 in the first quarter of 2014. Data of the latest Barometer survey carried out by the Public Affairs Institute furthermore states that the largest decline was observed in the category 'legislation', which reflects the trends in newly adopted legislation from the end of last year.
A decline also occurred in the area of ‘human and minority rights’. The Institute that carried out this survey observed that it was influenced by the election campaigns ahead of the presidential election that was held in March. “Although the presidential election met the criteria of a free and pluralistic election at the same time it also raised doubts whether it was fair,” stated Grigorij Meseznikov of the Institute in reference to the advantages that the party Smer was able to gain by using certain apparatuses of the state in the campaign.
And in regards to the Presidential election that was held in March, nearly half of Slovaks claim they are satisfied with the results of the presidential election, from which Andrej Kiska emerged victorious, reads also a finding of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) done together with the Focus agency. Andrej Kiska received a little short to 60 percent of votes in the run-off round, while Prime Minister Robert Fico was backed by a little over 40 percent of voters. When it comes to reasons as to why voters picked Kiska rather than Fico, the respondents said that they found Kiska, among other traits, likeable, accessible and tolerant and that he isn’t prone to conflict, that he is a decent person, non partisan and a new figure in politics. The next main reasons for voting for the president to be Andrej Kiska was to stop the incumbent Prime Minister Robert Fico from winning.
