How Political Polarization Paved the Way for the Attempted Assassination of Slovakia’s Prime Minister
Summary from the AllSides News Team
In the wake of the assassination attempt on Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, many mainstream outlets from the left and center highlighted political polarization within Slovakia and the European Union.
‘On The Brink’: John Kampfner, writing for The Guardian (Lean Left bias), claimed the assassination attempt “could lead to widespread civil unrest,” citing recent turbulence like Fico’s resignation from PM over the assassination of a journalist in 2018 and the inability of the next administration to smooth the country's woes as a tense backdrop. Kampfner also linked Fico to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, calling the two Putin sympathizers who are thorns in the sides of the European Union and NATO.
Saw It Coming: A report from BBC News (Center bias) highlighted how last month, Fico warned tensions in the country were so high that he believed "a leading government politician" would soon be assassinated. BBC also gave context on the country’s turbulent recent past and highlighted an account from a state media head who said people may be upset with Fico’s efforts to abolish the broadcast service and predicted Fico will return to his post “full of revenge.”
More Violence: Anton Spisak, writing for The Telegraph (Lean Right bias), highlighted the war in Ukraine and alleged “erosion of democratic norms” as drivers of polarization in Slovakia, splitting the populace’s support between “pro-Western” parties and populist politicians like Fico. Spisak says the assassination could polarize the country even further and lead to more violence, which he says would be “the worst possible outcome.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Whether Robert Fico survives and resumes office or not, Slovakia stands on the brink
A few years after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, known as the “velvet divorce”, the newly independent Slovakian state to the south was already a cause of concern. The US secretary of state at the time, Madeleine Albright, called it “the black hole” of Europe.
Eventually, in 2004 Slovakia joined the EU and Nato. The assumption then in the west was that the country, finally, had a settled identity and a settled set of alliances.
Then came Robert Fico, a prototype populist. He was an early embracer of identity politics: the good...
From the Center
Slovakia at pivotal moment after Robert Fico shooting
At the spot where a man tried to kill a prime minister there is a bullet hole and a small bloodstain.
Faint traces of a giant moment that has shocked Slovakia deeply. But the gunman’s target had seen this coming.
A month earlier, Robert Fico, Slovakia’s populist leader, was filmed predicting political tensions were so acute "a leading government politician" would end up getting murdered.
Then, the prime minister himself was shot. Hit four times in the stomach and arm at close range as he greeted supporters in a small...
From the Right
Fico shooting not only exposes poisonous politics but Slovakia’s fractured zeitgeist
The assassination attempt on Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister, is unprecedented in the country’s history.
But the attack, which the premier is likely to survive, speaks to an increasingly poisonous atmosphere in the central European nation of 5.5 million people.
In response to the attack, Zuzana Caputova, the country’s liberal outgoing president, and her successor Peter Pellegrini, an ally of the prime minister, have jointly called for calm.
But some sense of the tensions they are trying to manage could be gleaned from the reaction of Tomas Taraba, the deputy premier from...
AllSides Picks
June 14th, 2024
June 14th, 2024
Discuss & Debate polarization
Cybersecurity: Keeping Our Country Safe?
June 16 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET Crossing Party LinesMore News about Polarization from the Left, Center and Right
From the Left
From the Center
From the Right
