SLOVENKSO
— Officially: Slovenská Republika.
— English: Slovakia.
— Seat of government: Bratislava.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The parliament (Národná Rada) is elected by party-list proportional representation, and chooses the prime minister. The president is elected directly.
— Governing parties: Obyčajní Ľudia a Nezávislé Osobnosti (with Nová Väčšina, Kresťanská Únia, and Zmena Zdola); Sme Rodina, led by Boris Kollár; Sloboda a Solidarita, led by Richard Sulík (with Občianska Konzervatívna Strana); Za Ľudi, led by Andrej Kiska.
— Heads of government: Eduard Heger, OĽaNO, prime minister (since 2021); Zuzana Čaputová, PS, president (since 2019).
— Other parliamentary parties: Smer – Sociálna Demokracia, led by Robert Fico; Hlas – Sociálna Demokracia, led by Peter Pellegrini; Kotlebovci – Ľudová Strana – Naše Slovensko, led by Marian Kotleba; Republika, led by Milan Uhrík; Život – Národná Strana, led by Tomáš Taraba; Progresívne Slovensko, led by Irena Biháriová; Spolu, led by Juraj Hipš.
— Notable non-parliamentary parties: Kresťanskodemokratické Hnutie, led by Milan Majerský; Magyar Közösség Pártja, led by Krisztián Forró; Slovenská Národná Strana, led by Andrej Danko.
— Recent history: Spent several years after the dissolution of Československo in illiberal government under Vladimír Mečiar (1992-4, 1994-8) and the Hnutie za Demokratické Slovensko, but improved under a long-serving centrist coalition led by Mikuláš Dzurinda (1998-2006) of the Slovenská Demokratická a Kresťanská Únia. A 2004 election for the ceremonial presidency saw Mečiar defeated by former ally Ivan Gašparovič (2004-14), but Mečiar’s Ľudová Strana – HZDS returned to government under Smer and Robert Fico (2006-10, 2012-8) after the 2006 election; partner SNS was also worrisome. A 2010 election saw Smer win a large plurality among official parties, but an opposition coalition win a majority; Iveta Radičová (2010-2) of SDKÚ – Demokratická Strana became prime minister. In 2012, Smer won an outright majority in parliamentary elections. Andrej Kiska (2014-9) of ZĽ defeated Fico in a 2014 presidential runoff. The 2016 parliamentary election reduced Smer’s seat total to a plurality, and it formed a coalition government with SNS and Most-Híd. Peter Pellegrini (2018-20) replaced Fico, following protests over the killing of journalist Ján Kuciak. OĽaNO finished first in 2020 elections, and formed a coalition under Igor Matovič (2020-1); he stepped down over a vaccine-related coalition disagreement.
— FH: 1-1, free. Econ: 7.33 (44), flawed democracy.
— Updated: 2021 June 22.
O.T. FORD