Slovakia: Former PM Pellegrini takes the lead in election polling

According to a survey conducted by the AKO agency, for the first time since the February elections, the new Voice-Social Democracy (HLAS-SD) party of former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini leads the election polls in front of Prime Minister Igor Matovič’s Ordinary People (OLaNO) movement.

Pellegrini would receive 18.8 percent of the vote, while Matovič would gain only 15.3 percent. In this year’s elections, the OLaNO movement won 25.02 percent of the vote.

“The number of votes for Voice-Social Democracy is high thanks to Pellegrini,” said Václav Hřích, head of the AKO agency.

According to him, former Prime Minister Pellegrini is in a convenient position as he has a lot of space to express his opinions, but he does not have to be responsible for them. His party currently attracts many former voters of the Direction-Social Democracy (SMER-SD) party, which Pellegrini used to be a member of.

According to the AKO agency, the support of Matovič is negatively affected by poor communication about the coronavirus pandemic issues. In the first wave, Slovakia did well, and Matovič maintained the support among Slovaks.

“In the second wave, the country is no longer so successful, which is why Matovič is losing now. For the people, he is the culprit of the current state,” added Hřích.

According to polls, the government parties, Freedom and Solidarity and We Are a Family, would receive 13.4 and 8.8 percent of the vote, respectively. Another party in the government coalition, the For the People movement, would gain 4.2 percent of the vote.

On the contrary, 8.5 percent and 8.3 percent of Slovaks, respectively, would vote for the opposition People’s Party Our Slovakia and the Direction-Social Democracy party.

Title image: Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, right, outgoing Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, centre, and his potential successor Igor Matovic wear face masks to protect against coronavirus, during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, Monday, March 16, 2020.  (Michal Svitok/TASR via AP)