Sept 27 (Reuters) – The Slovak liberal party Progresivne Slovensko edged marginally ahead of the SMER-SSD of former prime minister Robert Fico in the final poll from AKO agency before a Sept. 30 election, highlighting a tight race.
The poll, published on Wednesday and carried out for TV JOJ, put Progresivne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia – PS) ahead of all parties at 18.0% support. SMER-SSD, which has seen its lead dissipate in the past month, polled at 17.7%, dropping 1.7 percentage points from mid-September.
The AKO poll was conducted among 1,000 participants between Sept. 20 and Sept. 26.
It showed the two leading parties each winning 30 seats in the 150-member parliament, both well short of a majority and needing to count on coalition partners to govern. However, the coalition-building path was highly unclear, with the third-leading party HLAS still not committed to any other party and several parties around thresholds for winning seats.
The election is coming early after a centre-right coalition government fell apart last year and a caretaker administration took over in May.
SMER-SSD, which still lead in two other polls published in the past day, is seeking to return after a three-year hiatus. It is led by three-time prime minister Fico, who is pledging to defend national interests and end military support for Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion.
The pro-western Progressive Slovakia party’s leader Michal Simecka has warned such a policy reversal would mean a turn closer to Russia and a threat of isolation for Slovakia.
| SMER-SSD | HLAS | Progresivne Slovensko | SaS | OLANO-led coalition | Republika | KDH | SME RODINA | SNS | DEMOKRATI | |
| 27-Sep-23 | 17.7 | 15.0 | 18.0 | 7.3 | 9.4 | 5.4 | 6.1 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 4.3 |
| 14-Sep-23 | 19.4 | 15.1 | 18.2 | 7.4 | 7.0 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 3.5 |
| 17-Aug-23 | 19.2 | 15.0 | 17.8 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 2.9 |
| 1-Aug-23 | 19.9 | 15.2 | 16.4 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 2.2 |
| Jul-23 | 18.1 | 16.5 | 15.4 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 2.2 |
| Jun-23 | 19.0 | 17.2 | 14.4 | 7.8 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 6.5 | 6.2 | 4.7 | 2.8 |
| May-23 | 18.0 | 16.5 | 14.3 | 8.3 | 7.4 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Apr-23 | 17.9 | 16.3 | 14.1 | 8.3 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Mar-23 | 17.6 | 16.1 | 15.1 | 8.1 | 5.0 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 4.2 | 4.9 |
| Feb-23 | 16.3 | 18.9 | 13.7 | 7.9 | 7.3 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 4.0 | |
| Jan-23 | 15.9 | 17.6 | 13.2 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 7.3 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 4.1 | |
| Dec-22 | 16.1 | 20.2 | 11.8 | 9.9 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 7.7 | 4.0 | |
| Nov-22 | 16.0 | 19.5 | 11.5 | 10.8 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 4.2 | |
| Oct-22 | 16.1 | 19.1 | 11.2 | 11.5 | 8.1 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 7.7 | 4.1 | |
| Sep-22 | 15.0 | 19.3 | 10.0 | 12.9 | 7.9 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 7.6 | 4.2 |
NOTE: threshold for parties to win seats is 5% and 7% for coalitions
Party descriptions:
* SMER-SSD- Direction-Slovak Social Democracy (leftist party of three-time prime minister Robert Fico)
* HLAS- Voice (leftist party of former prime minister Peter Pellegrini who split from SMER)
* Progresivne Slovensko- Progressive Slovakia (liberal party)
* SaS-Sloboda a Solidarita- Freedom and Solidary (liberal former ruling party)
* OLANO- Ordinary People and Independent Personalities-OLANO (centrist, anti-graft former ruling party)
* Republika- Republic (far-right party)
* KDH- Christian Democrat Movement (Christian conservative party)
* SME RODINA- We Are Family (centrist former ruling party)
* SNS- Slovak National Party (nationalist party)
* DEMOKRATI- Democrats (centrist, pro-European party led by former prime minister Eduard Heger)
Photo: Slovak liberal party Progresivne Slovensko leader Michal Simecka
