2023 Slovak parliamentary election

2023 Slovak parliamentary election

30 September 2023
Turnout	68.42% (2.67pp)
Party Leader % Seats ± Smer-SD 22.95 42 Progressive Slovakia 17.96 32 Voice – Social Democracy 14.70 27 OĽaNO and Friends 8.90 16 KDH 6.82 12 SASKA 6.32 11 SNS 5.63 10
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
File:2023 Slovak Parliamentary Election English.svg Results by district
Prime Minister before Ľudovít Ódor (acting) Independent

Early parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 30 September 2023 to elect members of the National Council. The 2020 Slovak parliamentary election resulted in a coalition government led by the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities movement. The most recent snap election in Slovakia was in 2012.

On 15 December 2022 the Slovak government lost a no-confidence vote. Subsequently the National Council amended the Constitution so that an early election could be held on 30 September 2023.

The left-wing populist and social democratic Smer-SD, lead by former Prime minister Robert Fico came out victorious, winning 42 seats, but didn't win a majority of seats. The liberal Progressive Slovakia came second with 32 seats. Former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini's Hlas-SD, which had split from Smer in 2020 came third with 27 seats. The previous election's winners, the conservative OĽaNO, which ran in coalition with other conservative parties won 16 seats, down 49 from the 2020 election.

As no singular party or alliance reached the 76 seats needed for a majority, a coalition government will be needed.

Composition of the National Council

Main article: List of members of the National Council of Slovakia, 2020–2023

At the first parliamentary session on 20 March 2020, 6 parliamentary groups were established: OĽaNO, Smer, We Are Family, ĽSNS, SASKA and For the People.

Group/party				Ideology	Leader	Deputies
						Elected 2020	Incumbent 2023
	OĽaNO and Friends		OĽaNO Ordinary People and Independent Personalities	Conservatism	Igor Matovič	43 / 150	29 / 150
			KÚ Christian Union	Christian right	Anna Záborská	5 / 150	5 / 150
			NOVA	Conservatism	Gábor Grendel	2 / 150	2 / 150
	Smer—SD Direction – Social Democracy			Left-wing populism	Robert Fico	38 / 150	27 / 150
	We Are Family			National conservatism	Boris Kollár	17 / 150	16 / 150
	SASKA Freedom and Solidarity			Liberalism	Richard Sulík	13 / 150	20 / 150
	Hlas—SD Voice – Social Democracy			Social democracy	Peter Pellegrini		11 / 150
	ĽSNS Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia			Neo-Nazism	Marian Kotleba	14 / 150	7 / 150
	Republic			Neo-fascism	Milan Uhrík		5 / 150
	For the People			Liberal conservatism	Veronika Remišová	12 / 150	1 / 150
	Change from Below			Liberal conservatism	Ján Budaj	3 / 150	0 / 150
	Life Life – National Party			Christian right	Tomáš Taraba	3 / 150	3 / 150
	PS Progressive Slovakia			Social liberalism	Michal Šimečka		1 / 150
	Democrats			Liberal conservatism	Eduard Heger		16 / 150

Television debates

2023 Slovak parliamentary election
Date	Broadcasters	P  Present   S  Surrogate   NI  Not invited   A  Absent   I  Invited   N  No debate
		OĽANO	Smer	SR	ĽSNS	PS	D	SASKA	KDH	Aliancia	MF	SNS	Modrí, Híd	Hlas	REP	Piráti	PRINCÍP	SOS	KSS	VB	SPRAVODLIVOSŤ	SHO	MySlovensko	SRDCE	SDKÚ-DS	KARMA
3 Sep 2023	JOJ 24 (150th candidates)	P Matovič	P Bekmatov	P Klus	NI	A Kusá	NI	P Hlina	P F. Majerský	NI	NI	P Huliak	NI	A L. Pellegrini	P Mazurek	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
19 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	S Kaliaš	S Smolka	NI	P Stanovič	NI	NI	P Panenka	NI	NI	P Szaboová
20 Sep 2023	TV JOJ/JOJ 24	P Matovič	NI	P Kollár	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Majerský	NI	NI	P Danko	NI	NI	P Uhrík	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
20 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Šubová	NI	NI	P Hrdlička	NI	P Chlebo	P Švec	NI	NI	P Rybárik	NI
21 Sep 2023	TV JOJ/JOJ 24	NI	P Fico	NI	NI	P Šimečka	NI	P Sulík	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Pellegrini	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
21 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	NI	NI	NI	S Schlosár	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	S Rajtár	NI	S Schwarzbacher	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	S Tokár	NI	NI
22 Sep 2023	TV Markíza	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	S Kaliaš	P Hanuliak	NI	P Stanovič	P Chlebo	P Švec	NI	NI	NI	P Szaboová
23 Sep 2023	TV Markíza	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Šubová	NI	NI	P Hrdlička	NI	NI	NI	P Panenka	S Kováč	P Rybárik	NI
24 Sep 2023	TV Markíza	NI	NI	NI	S Kotleba	NI	S Letanovská	NI	NI	P Forró	P Šimon	NI	P Dzurinda	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
25 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	P Jurinová	NI	NI	NI	NI	S Naď	NI	NI	S Gyimesi	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
25 Sep 2023	TA3	S Remišová	NI	S Krajniak	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Majerský	P Forró	NI	P Danko	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
25 Sep 2023	TV Markíza	P Matovič	A Fico	P Kollár	NI	P Šimečka	NI	P Sulík	P Majerský	NI	NI	P Danko	NI	S Tomáš	P Uhrík	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
26 Sep 2023 (cancelled)	TV Markíza	N Matovič	N Fico	NI	NI	N Šimečka	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	N Pellegrini	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
26 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	NI	NI	S Pčolinský	NI	NI	NI	S Gröhling	S Hajko	NI	NI	P Danko	NI	NI	S Mazurek	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
26 Sep 2023	TA3	NI	P Fico	NI	NI	P Šimečka	NI	P Sulík	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Pellegrini	P Uhrík	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI
27 Sep 2023	Jednotka/RS	NI	P Fico	NI	NI	P Šimečka	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	P Pellegrini	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI	NI

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election

Issues and developments

The issues shaping the election, reportedly, include high inflation, the war in Ukraine and Slovakia's support for Ukraine, the related global energy crisis, COVID-19, internal fights within the current government, corruption scandals, immigration, and social values (particularly over LGBTQ+ issues).

By the week of the election, popularity polls indicated that the two strongest parties were the Progressive Slovakia (led by pro-European Michal Simecka, a member of the European Parliament (EP) since 2019, and EP Vice-President since 2022, who has committed to maintaining support for Ukraine) and SMER-SD (headed by pro-Russian Robert Fico, three-time former prime minister, who has committed to ending Slovakia's support for Ukraine); however, neither appeared to be commanding a majority, and the BBC projected neither would top 20% of the vote, so each would have to attempt to build a coalition with other parties to achieve the majority needed to rule. Consequently, as many as 10 parties could wind up in the government. The outcome could pose a crisis for NATO, particularly if Fico — to gain a majority and win control of the Slovak government — chooses to ally his party with Republika, an extremist far-right party, which blames NATO and Ukraine for the war.

The third-largest party, which could tip the balance in favor of either of the other two, is Hlas (Voice), the moderate-left party of Peter Pellegrini (formerly of SMER-SD, and former prime minister, 2018–20). Though non-committed, he is believed to be closer to Fico.

Preliminary results

Results by region

Region	Smer	PS	Voice	OĽaNO and Friends	KDH	SASKA	SNS	Republic	Alliance	Democrats	We Are Family	Other parties
Bratislava Region	18.54	31.00	10.36	6.17	4.90	12.50	4.31	3.14	0.91	4.43	1.78
Trnava Region	22.01	17.07	12.11	9.40	4.56	5.36	4.43	4.38	12.69	2.92	2.19
Trenčín Region	29.47	16.63	16.40	5.93	5.44	5.63	7.28	5.45	0.03	2.84	2.22
Nitra Region	25.31	14.42	14.40	7.47	4.06	4.80	4.51	4.46	13.91	2.19	2.01
Žilina Region	25.79	15.51	16.04	6.90	9.38	5.56	8.11	5.61	0.02	2.80	2.02
Banská Bystrica Region	22.89	14.96	19.76	7.41	4.29	5.14	6.53	5.18	5.17	2.40	2.73
Prešov Region	22.04	10.83	16.16	14.78	14.07	4.10	5.73	5.22	0.07	2.65	2.36
Košice Region	21.10	14.68	15.08	13.46	6.80	5.74	4.38	4.97	5.44	2.98	2.75
Foreign	6.10	61.70	2.46	3.81	3.31	10.80	3.79	3.20	0.47	2.50	0.55
Total	22.94	17.96	14.70	8.89	6.82	6.32	5.62	4.75	4.38	2.93	2.21