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"Fico rules alone," sums up Slovak daily Sme, after Social Democrat Robert Fico's SMER Party took 44% of the vote and a parliamentary majority, with 83 out of 150 seats in the March 10 elections. Slovakia thus becomes the second Eastern European country, after Hungary, to be governed by a single party. "Slovakia is setting out in waters uncharted since 1989," notes Pravda, another Slovak daily.
The paper adds that "since communism, no party has known such a victory". Pravda notes that the Smer is 7 seats short of a constitutional majority which would allow it to pass changes to the constitution. "Its mandate may be seen as very strong, but not as totalitarian," the Bratislava daily warns.
Hospodárske Noviny, for its part, says that "SMER's triumph" imposes on it a responsibility to Brussels:
The future Prime Minister favours the bailout of Greece, which he considers akin to a bailout of the euro, he is also favourable to the EFSF [European Financial Stability Fund]. During the previous coalition government, he was for austerity and budget reduction through a balanced budget obligation as well as for the budget pact. But talk is one thing and holding firm in the face of economic reality is another.
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Robert Fico's victory, writes daily Plus Jeden Deň, is first and foremost the result of "the absolute rout of the right caused by the "Gorilla" corruption scandal as demonstrated by the fact that it lost the voters' confidence even in its fiefdom of Bratislava."
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