(ANSA-AFP) - BRATISLAVA, JUN 10 - Slovakia's Prime Minister
Robert Fico suffered a surprise defeat in EU elections to the
opposition liberals on Sunday, weeks after he was gravely
wounded in an assassination attempt, his party said. Fico's
left-wing nationalist Smer-SD party expressed "congratulations
to the winner of the election, Progressive Slovakia" and its new
European parliament members, on its Facebook page. Fico, 59, is
an opponent of military aid to Ukraine in its fight against the
Russian invasion. The latest opinion polls had indicated that he
was favourite to top the vote, in what was seen as a sign that
the assassination bid had driven up support for his party.
Progressive Slovakia (PS) won 27.81 percent of the votes in
Sunday's election, meaning six seats in the European Parliament,
according to results widely reported in Slovak media ahead of
their official publication. Smer-SD won 24.76 percent, yielding
it five seats in the 720-member EU assembly. Far-right party
Republika came third with 12.53 percent and two seats, the
results showed.
According to estimates published on Sunday afternoon by the
website Seznam.cz, former Prime Minister Andrej Babis' populist
Ano (Disgruntled Citizen Action) movement won the Czech
Republic's European Parliament elections, followed by the Spolu
(Together) coalition formed by three government parties, Civic
Democrats (ODS), Top 09, and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL).
(ANSA-AFP).
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