REGIONAL ELECTIONS: SMER SWEEPS ALL BUT ONE REGION

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000501

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CE J. MOORE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL LO
SUBJECT: REGIONAL ELECTIONS: SMER SWEEPS ALL BUT ONE REGION

REF: BRATISLAVA 484


1. Summary: On November 28, Slovak voters in four of eight
regions elected their new regional governors or "zupans" in the
second round of Slovakia's regional elections. PM Fico's SMER
("direction") had already secured victory in the other four
regions during the first round on November 14 (reftel),and
added three more to the win column with this election. Pavol
Freso, a current Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) MP, was
the only member of the opposition to win a zupan slot, carrying
Bratislava handily. Voter turnout nationwide was 18.39 percent,
which was approximately 3 percent lower than the first round.
End Summary.




2. Voters in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Trencin, and Presov
regions elected their zupans in the run-off elections between
the two highest vote-earners in each region from November 14's
first round. In Banska Bystrica, SMER MEP Vladimir Manka won
53.7 percent of the vote in a tight race against SDKU MP Jozef
Mikus. In Trencin, SMER-HZDS incumbent Pavol Seldacek won 59
percent of the vote to beat former Minister of Defense Martin
Fedor (SDKU). In Presov, the SMER-HZDS incumbent Peter Chudik
won 54 percent against opposition candidate Jan Hudacky. In
Bratislava, current SDKU MP Pavol Freso defeated incumbent
Vladimir Bajan, an independent supported by SMER and HZDS.




3. PM Fico declared the regional elections a "landslide
victory" for SMER and conceded that perhaps it was a mistake to
support independent candidate Bajan in Bratislava rather than
nominating a SMER member. He also alluded to a shake-up in
Bratislava's SMER apparatus. SDKU Chairman Dzurinda called
Freso's Bratislava win "a historic event" as it is the first
time that a SDKU member has been elected zupan. SDKU Vice
Chairman Ivan Miklos claimed that "Freso defeated not only his
rival but also Robert Fico."




4. Comment: While the results of the second round were
predicted in advance, the absence of further allegations of
vote-buying, especially in Banska Bystrica and Presov, which
were at the center of the controversy in the first round, was
not a given. We think that Freso's win and Jozef Mikus's solid
performance in Banska Bystrica give the opposition some hope and
perhaps incentive to collaborate more closely in the run-up to
next June's national parliamentary elections. End Comment.

EDDINS