BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Preliminary results today showed the center- right opposition is leading in a parliamentary election in Slovakia.
The Statistics Office said the governing left-leaning party of Prime Minister Robert Fico is heading for a victory with 36.7 percent of the vote, or 65 seats in the 150-seat Parliament, with votes from a half of the 5,929 polling stations counted early today. But the opposition parties could form a ruling coalition with an ethnic Hungarian party with a majority of 76 seats.
Fico has promised to maintain the welfare state, in contrast to the budget- cutting being implemented in other European countries. Despite the country’s ballooning budget deficit, the campaign was dominated by debate over a new Hungarian citizenship law, not the economy. Jan Slota of the ultranationalist Slovak National Party, Fico’s junior coalition partner, condemned last month’s move by Hungary to make it easier for ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries to acquire Hungarian citizenship. The Associated Press
