#SLOVAKIA: PM Fico Survives Assassination Attempt

[world politics news]

Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and gravely wounded Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive.

The prime minister had been greeting supporters at an event when the attempted assassination took place, shocking the small country and reverberating across Europe weeks before an election.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: PM Fico Says Slovkia Rejects New WHO Pandemic Treaty

[world politics news]

A week ago, during an hour-long speech at the SMER party conference, of which he is chairman, Prime Minister Robert Fico said he will not support strengthening the powers of the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) at the expense of sovereign states in the fight against pandemics. “Only insane pharmaceutical companies could come up with such nonsense,” he told the more than 400 guests, ambassadors, delegates and party members.

Fico was appointed as Slovakia’s Prime Minister for the fourth time on October 25, 2023 after his SMER – Slovenská Sociálna Demokracia (“SMER”) Party won the election on September 1, and formed a coalition with the centre-left HLAS – Sociálna Demokracia (“HLAS”) and nationalist Slovenská Národná Strana (“SNS”) parties.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: Health Minister Resigns To Save Coalition Gov't

[world politics news]

Slovak Health Minister Marek Krajci resigned on March 11 as Prime Minister Igor Matovic battled to save his faltering coalition government, which is crumbling under the stress of handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slovakia is currently suffering the second worst daily death rate in the world and the government has come under great criticism for failing to get a grip on the problem. Just recently the crisis came to a head when the prime minister procured 2mn doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, despite the opposition of his coalition partner the For the People party. Sputnik V has yet to receive approval by the EU's European Medicines Agency. 

Krajci, of the prime minister's populist OLaNO party,  said his resignation was a condition of the junior centre-right coalition parties For the People and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) remaining in the government. He plans to step down gradually. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: Parliament Votes Down Istanbul Convention On Violence Against Women

[world politics news]

Shortly before Feb. 29 general elections, the Slovak parliament rejected the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women by a crushing majority of votes, with many expressing concern that the document promoted a left-wing ideology at odds with Slovak society.

Slovak politicians indicated that several provisions of the convention clashed with Slovakia's constitution, particularly regarding the definition of marriage between a man and a woman, and concerns that the document was promoting "gender ideology".

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: Parliament Overrides President's Veto Of Gambling Legislation

[world politics news]

Slovakia's National Council has voted to override Pres. Andreja Kiska’s veto which would have prevented the country’s new gambling act from coming into effect. A total of 86 deputies in the 150-member parliament voted to overrule the President’s veto.

The new gambling legislation covers a variety of rules and regulations for online and land-based gambling, including opening its online gambling market to international operators across the European Union for the first time and effectively ending the online gambling monopoly of the state-owned national lottery operator TIPOS.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SLOVAKIA: Far-Right Pty Wins Seats In Election; PM Fico's Pty Seeks To Form Gov't

[world politics news]

The People’s party – Our Slovakia group led by Marian Kotleba, the governor of central Slovakia, took 8% of the vote, nearly three times more than polls had predicted. The rise of opposition parties makes Prime Minister Robert Fico's task of forming a new government with his anti-immigrant, socially conservative Smer Party more difficult.

Pictured: Center, Marian Kotleba, head of The People's Party - Our Slovakia.

#SLOVAKIA: Small Town Votes 97% Against Hosting Refugees; Defies Gov't Deal With Austria To Share Burden

[world politics news]

The small southwestern Slovak town of Gabčíkovo voted 97% against placing a refugee camp within its borders. The Slovak government recently made an agreement with Austria on placing 500 refugees seeking asylum in Austria on a temporary basis at the Gabčíkovo branch of the Slovak University of Technology.

#SLOVAKIA: PM Robert Fico Says "70% Chance" Of Wider Conflict In Ukraine

[world politics news]

Slovak PM Robert Fico says there's a 70% chance of a wider military confrontation in Ukraine, saying it was largely a conflict between the US and Russia. An opposition spokesman called his remarks "a dangerous simplification that obscures the fact that Russian soldiers, not American," were occupying Ukrainian territory.

#SLOVAKIA: Feb. Referendum Will Ask Voters About Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Adoption, Sex Ed

[world politics news]

A Feb. 7 Slovak referendum drafted by a conservative group will decide whether to allow same-sex marriage and gay adoption, and whether parents have the right to keep children from sex education classes. Earlier this year, the constitution was amended to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

SLOVAKIA: Left-leaning Direction - Social Democracy Party Set to Win Parliamentary Elections