Voľby 2012 na Slovensku. Pokles významu nacionalistickej konfliktnej línie?
Elections 2012 in Slovakia: Is the importance of nationalist cleavage declining?

Summary/Abstract: The early elections in 2012 in Slovakia resulted from the fall of the government of right–wing parties led by Iveta Radičová. The main reason of the government’s fall was a conflict in the coalition regarding the European issues, specifically European bailout fund. This fact indicated the “European cleavage” to play the main role during the electoral campaign. In the past, right vs. left and nationalistic cleavages played the main roles. This paper focuses mainly on the possibly declining importance of nationalist cleavage which was witnessed during the last elections in 2010. Previously, all the “Slovak” political parties used the so called “Hungarian card” to gain votes. The main actor was the nationalistic Slovak National Party, but since the election in 2006 also the socialdemocratic party SMER-SD has used the nationalist appeal. Since then the importance of this conflict has declined, what was also shown by the latest elections’ results.

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