A conservative populist party critical of NATO’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia emerged as the top vote-getter in Slovakia’s national elections Saturday.
A conservative populist party critical of NATO’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia emerged as the top vote-getter in Slovakia’s national elections Saturday.
But former Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Smer party are still a long way from power as voters in the Eastern European nation spread their votes among a string of parties, with the pro-Ukraine Progressive Slovakia Party at 18%, just 5 percentage points behind Smer’s 23% in the preliminary tally.
Still, Mr. Fico’s first-place finish is the latest sign that the once-unquestioned backing for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February 2022 is beginning to wear on electorates in the West. The Slovakian vote came on the same day that skepticism about the price tag of Ukrainian aid forced the U.S. Congress to strip money for Kyiv from the final spending package that avoided a government shutdown in Washington.
Mr. Fico, who previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, has said he wants to end the country’s military aid to Ukraine and favors immediate peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
