2006 Slovak parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 17 June 2006.^[1] Direction – Social Democracy emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 50 of the 150 seats. Its leader Robert Fico was appointed Prime Minister on 4 July 2006, leading a three-party centre-left populist coalition.^[2]

2006 Slovak parliamentary election

← 2002 17 June 2006 2010 →
All 150 seats in the National Council 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	54.67% ( 15.40 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Robert Fico Mikuláš Dzurinda Ján Slota Party Smer SDKÚ–DS SNS Last election 25 seats, 13.5% 28 seats, 15.1% 0 seats, 3.3% Seats won 50 31 20 Seat change 25 3 20 Popular vote 671,185 422,815 270,230 Percentage 29.1% 18.4% 11.7% Swing 15.7 pp 3.3 pp 8.4 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Béla Bugár Vladimír Mečiar Pavol Hrušovský Party SMK ĽS–HZDS KDH Last election 20 seats, 11.2% 36 seats, 19.5% 15 seats, 8.3% Seats won 20 15 14 Seat change 0 21 1 Popular vote 269,111 202,540 191,443 Percentage 11.7% 8.8% 8.3% Swing 0.5 pp 10.7 pp 0.1%
Results of the election, showing vote strength by district.
Prime Minister before election Mikuláš Dzurinda SDKÚ–DS Elected Prime Minister Robert Fico Smer

Background

Originally the election was planned for 16 September 2006. However, on 8 February the government proposed calling an early election after the Christian Democratic Movement left the coalition government. This proposal was passed by the Parliament on 9 February and signed by the President on 13 February. For the first time Slovak citizens living abroad could vote, using absentee ballots. A total of 21 parties contested the elections.^[3]

Participating parties

Party		Ideology	Political position	Leader
	Direction – Social Democracy (Smer)	Social democracy	Centre-left	Robert Fico
	Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ–DS)	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right	Mikuláš Dzurinda
	Slovak National Party (SNS)	National conservatism	Far-right	Ján Slota
	Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK/MKP)	Hungarian minority interests	Centre-right	Béla Bugár
	People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (ĽS–HZDS)	Slovak nationalism	Syncretic	Vladimír Mečiar
	Christian Democratic Movement (KDH)	Christian democracy	Centre-right	Pavol Hrušovský

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Direction – Social Democracy	671,185	29.14	+15.68	50	+25
	Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party	422,815	18.36	+3.26	31	+3
	Slovak National Party	270,230	11.73	+8.41	20	+20
	Party of the Hungarian Coalition	269,111	11.68	+0.52	20	0
	People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia	202,540	8.79	–10.71	15	–21
	Christian Democratic Movement	191,443	8.31	+0.06	14	–1
	Communist Party of Slovakia	89,418	3.88	–2.44	0	–11
	Free Forum	79,963	3.47	New	0	New
	Alliance of the New Citizen	32,775	1.42	–6.59	0	–15
	Movement for Democracy	14,728	0.64	–2.64	0	0
	Hope	14,595	0.63	New	0	New
	Left Bloc	9,174	0.40	+0.17	0	0
	Union of the Workers of Slovakia	6,864	0.30	–0.25	0	0
	Civic Conservative Party	6,262	0.27	–0.06	0	0
	Slovak National Coalition–Slovak Reciprocity	4,016	0.17	New	0	New
	Slovak People's Party	3,815	0.17	New	0	New
	Agrarian and Countryside Party	3,160	0.14	New	0	New
	Prosperity of Slovakia	3,118	0.14	New	0	New
	Party of the Democratic Left	2,906	0.13	New	0	New
	Mission 21–New Christian Democracy	2,523	0.11	New	0	New
	Party of Civic Solidarity	2,498	0.11	New	0	New
Total		2,303,139	100.00	–	150	0
Valid votes		2,303,139	98.60
Invalid/blank votes		32,778	1.40
Total votes		2,335,917	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,272,517	54.67
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database

Results by region

Region	Smer-SD	SDKÚ-DS	SNS	SMK/MKP	ĽS-HZDS	KDH	KSS	SF	ÁNO	Other parties
Bratislava Region	21.42	36.05	8.80	6.12	6.75	7.87	2.96	5.77	1.38	2.94
Trnava Region	23.26	15.93	7.83	29.00	7.46	7.39	3.03	2.58	0.98	2.60
Trenčín Region	33.98	15.03	15.90	0.34	14.29	7.93	4.74	3.34	1.20	3.23
Nitra Region	24.82	12.30	9.32	31.67	7.98	5.41	2.90	2.19	1.07	2.31
Žilina Region	33.01	14.78	18.83	0.27	10.80	10.91	4.01	3.37	1.37	2.65
Banská Bystrica Region	31.08	15.74	13.37	12.49	8.05	5.07	5.12	3.31	1.62	4.17
Prešov Region	35.44	17.93	10.73	0.34	8.40	13.97	4.26	3.27	1.59	4.21
Košice Region	29.48	19.20	8.63	14.27	6.70	7.73	4.00	3.87	2.07	3.99
Total in Slovakia	29.14	18.36	11.73	11.68	8.79	8.31	3.88	3.47	1.42	3.62
Cities	28.81	24.13	11.09	7.92	7.56	7.53	3.83	4.49	1.64	2.96
Villages	29.54	11.22	12.51	16.32	10.31	9.26	3.94	2.20	1.15	3.49

Aftermath

On 28 June, Fico announced that the government coalition would consist of his Smer-SD, together with the SNS and ĽS-HZDS. The Party of European Socialists (PES) criticized this decision because of nationalist statements of the leader of the SNS and subsequently suspended Smer-SD's membership.