Tens of thousands rally in Slovakia, demand election
BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA — Tens of thousands of Slovaks took the streets for a third week to demand early elections, saying this week’s resignation by Robert Fico as prime minister was insufficient to guarantee a crackdown on corruption.
Crowds thronged a main square in the capital, Bratislava, on Friday, protesting what they said was only a cosmetic change in government that will allow Fico’s Smer party to keep its grip on power. Similar rallies began in more than 30 cities across the eastern European Union member. It was a continuation of the country’s biggest demonstrations since the fall of the Iron Curtain that began after the murder of a reporter investigating state corruption last month.
The rallies illustrate undiminished outrage after Fico resigned on Thursday with the condition that Smer name his replacement, defying protesters’ demand that the three-party coalition open the way to early elections. The protests echoed other anti-government rallies across eastern Europe over issues ranging from democratic backsliding to endemic graft.
Slovakia’s coalition leaders “deceived and humiliated the public,” the organizers of the protests said on Facebook. “The new government is not a real fulfilment of the demands of tens of thousands of people who took to the streets asking for a decent Slovakia.”
While Fico’s resignation is at least a partial victory for his detractors, it weakens the position of one of the only governments in the EU’s eastern wing that has portrayed itself as a counterweight against euroskeptic forces across much of the region. Fico picked as his replacement deputy Premier Peter Pellegrini, who is now in talks to form a new cabinet as soon as next week. He has pledged to continue with Fico’s pro-EU orientation.
Smer has made eliminating corruption a priority after media reports on nontransparent tenders and tax fraud by businesspeople linked to politicians. But no active senior politician has ever been convicted in the country. In his last story, published after he was slain with his fiancée in an execution-style hit, the journalist Jan Kuciak reported on links of Fico associates to Italian companies allegedly stealing EU funds in eastern Slovakia. The outgoing premier has repeatedly denied wrongdoing by his government.