The attempted assassination of the prime minister of Slovakia will probably be a turning point for politics in the central European country, but not necessarily for the better. Robert Fico was left fighting for his life after being shot several times by a lone gunman in the small regional town of Handlova on Wednesday afternoon, but is expected to survive.
As the country gets to grips with the shocking attack, its political system finds itself at a crossroads. Which route it takes will depend on the response of the government.
Fico (59), a combative politician with a populist streak, is representative of the bruising and polarised nature of political debate in Slovakia. The prime minister’s party, Smer, is nominally left wing but in reality practises a mix of populism, nationalism and social conservatism.
Fico is seen as one of the most Kremlin-friendly of European Union leaders. He has campaigned on promises to halt Slovakian military aid to Ukraine, successfully capitalising on voters’ anxiety about the Russian war in Ukraine spilling into neighbouring countries. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 until 2018, when he resigned amid controversy. He returned to power at the head of a coalition after his party won parliamentary elections late last year.
Since then his government has flirted with authoritarian policies, pushing forward plans to erode the independence of the country’s public broadcaster and crack down on civil society organisations that receive funding from abroad. It had also proposed watering down penalties for corruption. This effort to remould the country into something that looks like Viktor Orban’s Hungary has galvanised large opposition protests in the capital of Bratislava and elsewhere.
The government has said the actions of the suspected gunman, reported to be a 71-year-old Slovak who has since been charged by police, were politically motivated. While many politicians on all sides have called for calm, others have framed the attack on the prime minister within a familiar us-vs-them narrative. In the hours after the shooting, one senior minister, Tomas Taraba, said “hateful” political opponents of Fico had blood on their hands.
[ Profile: Who is Robert Fico?Opens in new window ]
[ Slovakian prime minister Fico's condition remains 'very serious'Opens in new window ]
Standing outside the hospital where doctors operated on Fico, Matus Sutaj Estok, the interior minister, criticised journalists and other politicians for spreading hate, dramatically claiming the country was on the verge of civil war.
The attempted assassination might lead to a genuine effort across the political spectrum to tone down the divisive rhetoric. Alternatively – and possibly more likely – it could see the government intensify attacks on political opponents, the press and NGOs. Nothing consolidates power like a crisis.
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