Fico told reporters he was waiting for Slovakia's president to give him a mandate to start forming a government-expected today-after officials said yesterday that Smer-SD had won 22.9% in Saturday's vote with 99.98% of ballots counted.
Fico said he was ready to open coalition talks: "We're here, we're ready, we've learned something, we're more experienced. We have clear ideas, we have clear plans."
The 59-year-old, whose proMoscow stance has sparked fears Slovakia will join Hungary and its authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán, in challenging the EU consensus on support for Kyiv, added: "People in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine."
Fico has leaned close to Orbán, who congratulated Fico on his victory yesterday. "Guess who's back!" the Hungarian prime minister said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Always good to work together with a patriot. Looking forward to it."
Fico said his party was "not changing [its view] that we are prepared to help Ukraine in a humanitarian way... We are prepared to help with the reconstruction of the state. But you know our opinion on arming Ukraine."
This story is from the October 02, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the October 02, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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