PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000491 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR LO SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS ¶1. June 17 elections in Slovakia elected six parties to parliament with a 55 percent voter turnout. Preliminary results were published early the morning of June 18. Official results (which will include tallies of preferential votes for individual candidates on each party's list) will be announced around 1800 on June 18. The parties that succeeded, with the percentage of the vote they received, are: Smer ("Direction) - 29.14 Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) - 18.36 Slovak National Party (SNS) - 11.73 Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) - 11.69 Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) - 8.79 Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) - 8.31 ¶2. The 150 seats in parliament will be divided as follows: Smer - 50 SDKU - 31 SNS - 20 SMK - 20 HZDS - 15 KDH - 14 ¶3. Mathematically, this result suggests several possible coalitions. The only certainty is that SNS and SMK will not be in a coalition together. It is likewise highly improbable that Smer and SDKU could be in a coalition together, due to conflicts both of program and personality. Fico told media 6/18 that Smer would not like to form a coalition with "rightist" parties, and would probably turn to both coalition and opposition parties from the last electoral term. Smer/SNS/HZDS - 85 SDKU/SMK/KDH - 65 SDKU/SMK/KDH/HZDS - 80 Smer/SNS - 70 Smer/KDH/SNS - 85 SDKU/HZDS/SMK - 65 Smer/SMK/KDH - 84 SDKU/SNS/HZDS - 66 Smer/SDKU - 81 SNS/SMK/KDH/HZDS - 69 ¶4. President Gasparovic told media 6/18 that he will meet on 6/19 with Fico and the chairmen of other parties to hear their visions of possible governing coalitions. After this series of meetings he will empower one of them to form the next government. Gasparovic also said he expects continuity in Slovakia's foreign policy, even if SNS is part of the future coalition. ¶5. Embassy Bratislava's public messages will congratulate the Slovak people on exercising their democratic rights in the free and fair election, congratulate the parties that won seats in parliament, and state that we look forward to working with the coalition government that results.