REGIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES TRY OUT ALLIANCES

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000473

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM LO
SUBJECT: REGIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES TRY OUT ALLIANCES
BEFORE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS

Classified By: CDA Scott N. Thayer for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In advance of Slovakia's regional
elections (scheduled for November 26),political parties have
begun to experiment with different pairings and coalitions in
the "consequence-free environment" of regional politics. At
the local and regional level, Slovak politics is based less
on party platforms than on the personal relationships of the
politicians, which are occasionally born of common
corruption. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) For ease of reading, Post provides the following
"Key" to the political party acronyms:

SDKU = Slovak Democratic and Christian Union
KDH = Christian Democrat Movement
SMK = Hungarian Coalition Party
ANO = Alliance of New Citizens
HZDS = Movement for a Democratic Slovakia
HZD = Movement for Democracy
Smer = "Direction"
KSS = Communist Party of Slovakia
SNS = Slovak National Party
SF = Free Forum
DS = Democratic Party

WHAT'S AT STAKE?
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3. (U) Over the past five years, Slovakia has attempted to
decentralize its government away from a central,
Bratislava-based system towards more regional authority.
Regionally, there are 8 administrative "higher territorial
units," or "Zupas," whose regional parliaments are made up of
40 to 62 deputies. These regional governments have control
over roads (but not highways),zoning, development,
investment ventures, secondary schools, hospitals, and social
service facilities like retirement homes, children's
services, cultural activities, and licensing. This
decentralization has brought with it nearly USD 1 Billion to
each Zupa; what it has not brought is the oversight to see
how the funds are being administered.

CORRUPTION MEANS MORE THAN PLATFORMS
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4. (SBU) At a public forum in Bratislava June 15, Minister
of Justice Daniel Lipsic and NGO attorney Vladimir Pirosik
described what they see as a regional party structure based
on "brotherhood" or "clan" loyalty among corrupt local
officials regardless of party affiliations. Reaffirming the
point that Slovakia's political parties are based less on
policy than on personal relationships at the local and
regional level, they said corruption is becoming a more
serious problem at the local and regional levels in Slovakia.
Decentralization has brought significant amounts of money --
and little oversight -- to the regional governments, and
national auditors have no legal authority yet to provide
oversight. In addition, local media outlets are often owned
by mayors or municipal officials, and thus fail to fulfill
their traditional "watchdog" role.

"FRANKENPARTY" FORMS TO TAKE ON HUNGARIANS IN NITRA...
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5. (SBU) Only a few days after a "Slovak coalition" of odd
bedfellows (including KDH, SDKU, HZDS, and Smer) was formed
to challenge SMK dominance in the Nitra region, the dispute
between the two factions has grown fierce. SMK, which
controls 31 of 52 seats in the regional parliament, was
accused by the new coalition of taking an overly partisan and
nationalist approach to its administration of the region,
including bias in its personnel policy, its distribution of
regional monies, and its apathy towards the views of the
minority Slovak parties and citizens. The coalition
published a list of 24 controversial tenders and recalls of
directors that were orchestrated by SMK, harming ethnic
Slovaks in the region.


6. (C) In private meetings with Embassy officers, SMK
deputy chairman and MP Miklos Duray admitted that the SMK
government in the Nitra region is biased in favor of
Hungarians, and said that several councilmen had been kicked
out of the party because of their lack of transparency. He
told Emboffs that he thinks the so-called anti-Hungarian
coalition is probably not motivated by anti-Hungarian animus,
but instead represents a reflection of the "bad governing
practices" of the SMK majority in the Nitra region (a view we
also heard from the regional SMK in March). In his view, SMK
councilmen in the region should have provided more space to
the other parties and should have "shown them more respect."

...WHILE IN TRENCIN, HZDS IS THE WILD CARD
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7. (SBU) On June 11, regional party leaders from Smer, KDH,
SNS, HZD, and SF signed a coalition agreement for the
November regional elections in Trencin. The coalition
candidate for the chairman of the Trencin region is Miroslav
Chovanec, a current Smer MP and OB/GYN who once notably told
Poloffs that doctors don't request bribes for delivering
babies, but usually accept "gifts" for their services. The
parties also reached an agreement about the number of seats
each would receive in the Trencin regional parliament: Smer
21, KDH 11, SNS 8, HZD 3, SD 2. A potential
counter-coalition would consist of SDKU, ANO, DS, and
possibly HZDS (the SDKU mayor of Trencin told Charge several
months ago that coalition with HZDS was a real possibility).
While such coalitions would some time ago have been
unthinkable, the regional elections provide parties with an
opportunity to experiment with different alliances in advance
of national elections.

UNHOLY ALLIANCE? MECIAR OFFERS ANO AN OLIVE BRANCH
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8. (SBU) At the ANO party congress, also held June 11, HZDS
party leader and former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar
offered to ANO ("Alliance of New Citizens") his party's
cooperation after parliamentary elections in 2006. While the
offer was not accepted outright, it was not rejected by the
ANO leadership either. Cooperation between HZDS and SDKU has
been the subject of lively discussion in the Slovak press,
but in reality, none of the coalition parties have ruled out
a partnership with HZDS. SMK and KDH have, so far, expressed
the most reservations about such a partnership. Smer leader
Robert Fico stated that his party is ready to cooperate with
all relevant parties, including the Communists and SNS. This
far out, all parties are keeping their options open.
THAYER


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