...Since the last general election in June 2006, Slovakia has been governed by a coalition led by the centre-left Smer-Social Democracy (Smer-SD), the party of the prime minister, Robert Fico; the People's Party-Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (LS-HZDS, previously HZDS), headed by Vladimir Meciar; and the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS), led by Jan Slota. The coalition controls 85 out of 150 seats in the National Council (parliament), enough to pass most legislation comfortably. Smer-SD holds 11 out of 16 seats in the cabinet and has dominated the political scene in its first two years in power. The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party (SDKU-DS), the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), which ruled Slovakia in the 2002-06 election term, comprise the parliamentary opposition. The current president, Ivan Gasparovic, was elected in 2004, and he should run again in 2009 with the support of most of the ruling coalition. The second...
|
