Slovakia: Election triumph for opposition left

The political comeback of Slovakia’s former prime minister Robert Fico looks complete.

All the signs are that his leftist opposition party has won an absolute majority in an early election, returning him to the job he last held in 2010.

Fico campaigned on a pledge to build a strong social safety net in turbulent economic times.

His promise to tax the rich struck a chord in Slovakia, the eurozone’s second-poorest country, where 13.7 percent of people are out of a job.

The election was brought forward after Iveta Radicova’s centre-right coalition government collapsed last October. She is now quitting politics.

The ruling right has also been at the centre of corruption allegations in what is known as the ‘Gorilla’ scandal. It has drawn tens of thousands of outraged Slovaks onto the streets to voice their anger at the country’s politicians.

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