Former Slovakian PM Robert Fico wins parliamentary elections

Bratislava [Slovakia], October 1 (ANI): Former Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico's party on Sunday won the Slovakian parliamentary elections, CNN reported, adding that his party accounted for 23.3 per cent of the total votes polled.
The preliminary results released by Slovakia’s Statistical Office at 6 am (local time) put Robert Fico’s populist SMER party in the lead with 23.3 per cent of the votes polled. The Progressive Slovakia (PS), a liberal and pro-Ukrainian party, bagged 17 per cent of the votes.
Fico, a two-time former Slovakian PM, now has a chance to regain the job. However, he must first seek coalition partners as his party did not get enough share of the vote to win outright.
The Hlas party, led by a former SMER member and formed as an offshoot of SMER after internal disputes, finished third with 15 per cent of votes, according to CNN report. 
As seven political parties have reached the 5 per cent threshold required to enter the parliament, coalition negotiations will almost certainly include multiple players, the report noted.
Significantly, Fico, who is now the favourite to return as PM, has pledged an immediate end to Slovak military support for Ukraine. He has even promised to block Ukraine's North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ambitions.
Hlas leader Peter Pellegrini said his party was "very pleased with the result", adding, "The results so far show that Hlas will be a party without which it will be impossible to form any kind of normal, functioning coalition government", CNN reported. 
He added, "On one hand, we are very pleased with this (but) on the other, this is a major responsibility, a major task of making sure that, if there is an offer to form a coalition, we will make the right decision and become part of a government that will lead Slovakia out of the decay and crisis that (the country’s previous leaders) got us into."
Hlas has been vague about its stance regarding Ukraine in the election campaign. Previously, Pellegrini suggested Slovakia “had nothing left to donate” to Ukraine. However, he also said the country should continue to manufacture ammunition that is shipped to Ukraine. 
Meanwhile, the liberal PS party had been in favour of a completely different future for Slovakia, including continued support for Ukraine and strong links with the West.
Elections were held in Slovakia to choose its fifth Prime Minister in four years after seeing a series of shaky coalition governments.  
Slovakia, a member of both NATO and the European Union, was among the handful of European nations who supported tough EU sanctions against Russia. Slovakia has also provided military equipment to Ukraine. 
Slovakia's stance will likely change under Fico, who has blamed "Ukrainian Nazis and fascists" for provoking Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to launch an offensive, according to the CNN report. 
While in Opposition, Fico became a close ally of Hungarian PM Victor Orban, particularly when it came to criticising the EU. He has previously served as Slovakia's PM for over a decade, first between 2006 and 2010 and then again from 2012 to 2018.
Fico was forced to resign in 2018 after weeks of mass protests over the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, CNN reported.
Kuciak had claimed corruption among the country's elite, including people directly related to Fico and his party SMER. (ANI)