Incidents of verbal and physical abuse have forced candidates to step down ahead of Slovakia’s snap election on 30 September, with one candidate punching a bystander during a campaign stop and another sending texts to a student promising to ‘behead progressives’.
The incidents came after technocratic Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor warned that Slovakia was becoming a “banana republic” after former prime minister Igor Matovič (Ordinary People) traded kicks and punches with Smer politicians during a press conference.
The two candidate MPs, one from Ordinary People and the other from the Christian Democrat party (KDH) were taken off their respective lists.
“We condemn violence. Physical violence has no place in a decent society,” Matovič commented about the now-former Ordinary People candidate, Tomáš Holkovič, who decided to step down over the weekend after being caught on video punching a man who he claims spat on him during a campaign stop in Bratislava.
Matovič hit former interior minister Robert Kaliňák in the chest while trying to disrupt a Smer press conference.
On the side of the KDH, the now former candidate, Robert Dohál, was taken off the party’s election list after a student came forward and shared text messages in which Dohál promised to “behead” anyone daring to lecture children about “monstrosities”, such as gender transition.
“We consider such statements unacceptable, even in private correspondence,” said KDH leader Milan Majerský, who recently apologised after calling LGBTI+ “ideology” a “scourge” in a TV debate.
Dohál’s statements, which included anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic rhetoric, targeted the election programme of Progressive Slovakia, the current runner-up in the polls, which, since its surge, has faced increased attacks, including false claims that one of their candidates, Tomáš Hellebrandt, died as a result of COVID-19 vaccines.
The hoax, which originated on Telegram but has since gained traction on Facebook, is being shared by Danny Kollár, a YouTuber and podcast host, who is the subject of three international arrest warrants for extremist crimes.
Slovakia’s snap elections will be the first covered by the EU’s new Digital Services Act, which requires social media platforms to fight misinformation and election manipulation.
In April, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said he was “particularly concerned” by the content moderation on Facebook, which plays an “important role” in the opinion building in pre-election Slovakia.
(Barbara Zmušková | Euractiv.sk)
Read more with EURACTIV
Bern Convention: Vlora Airport row will make its way into EU membership talks
Source: euractiv.com
