Slovak election campaign starts with small parties risking vote waste

As the window to merge in Slovakia’s September snap election closed on 9 June, at least five political parties are straining to secure a 5% quorum and risk becoming wasted votes.

The campaigning for Slovakia’s September snap election has officially started, and the time for parties to join ranks using a popular practice of renaming a party under a joint name ran out on 9 June.

“Personally, I don’t foresee big mergers anymore, which unfortunately could mean big vote wasting,” said liberal MP Marián Viskupič of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, polling at 5.3%.

A significant shift in foreign policy is on the table after the election. Leading the polls is Smer, an S&D party, carrying a history of corruption investigations. Smer is promising to stop sending arms to Ukraine, introduce a Russia-style foreign agent NGO law and accuse NATO of election meddling.

The ability of pro-Western forces to form a government after September hinges on smaller parties surpassing the 5% election quorum. A May poll shows five parties hover between 4-5.5%.

Additionally, Democrats, the party of ex-prime minister Eduard Heger is also polling at 3.2%. Sme Rodina party of house speaker Boris Kollár is also at an insecure 6.6%.

Despite calls to join efforts and prevent vote wasting, the parties are primarily confident at going it alone. Various smaller parties polling below 3% could also further dilute votes. Among them is Modrí of former Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, who first joined Democrats only to leave a few weeks later.

In Slovakia’s recent memory is a 2020 merger-related voting fiasco. Progressive Slovakia (Renew Europe) and Spolu (now Democrats, EPP) chose not to move forward with the party-renaming practice and created an official electoral coalition.

This meant a higher, 7% quorum, which despite polling high, the coalition missed out on by less than a thousand votes. The parties did not get into parliament and over 200,000 votes were wasted.

The only remaining way for parties to join ranks is for one party’s candidates to run under the name of another. The deadline for candidate lists is 2 July.

(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)