Robert Fico Survived the Assassination Attempt: Slovak Liberal Democracy May Not

Illiberal narratives are convincing Slovak society to blame the opposition and media 

5 June 2024

Eva Mihočková

Marcin Król Fellow

Shortly before the European elections in Slovakia, the far-right and parties with Eurosceptic rhetoric are strengthening their position. Government parties Smer, Hlas and SNS are increasingly drawing inspiration from far-right themes, capitalising on Robert Fico’s assassination attempt.

The assassination attempt on Slovakia’s prime minister was unprecedented and shook the entire society. The initial shock and emotions have started to gradually subside, however, and it is evident that the brutal act has helped the far-right and the Smer Party increase their popularity ahead of the upcoming European elections on 8 June.

Moreover, Robert Fico’s shooting is also being intensely exploited by Hungary’s Fidesz Party, which is distorting the Slovak story for its own propaganda purposes.

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Eva Mihočková

Marcin Król Fellow

Marcin Król Fellow 2024 at Visegrad Insight. She is an Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy SFPA, a media website operated by the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. She is also a member of Team Europe Direct and works as an investigative journalist for Stop the Corruption Foundation. Last year she was awarded the Journalism Award 2022 by the Open Society Foundation in Slovakia. Eva started her journalistic career in 1998 at Slovak Television. Since then, she has worked for major news outlets such as TA3 television, RTVS public broadcaster, Euractiv.sk, Plus7dní weekly, and Trend weekly, where she served as a reporter, moderator, and a member of the editorial office management team.

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