Out-of-touch and feuding politicians, rising costs of living and lack of decent jobs: voters’ complaints were eerily familiar when reporting on elections in other democracies.
I have heard the same discontent from Argentina to the United States, from Spain to Sweden and, of course, throughout Britain.
However, the intensity of the anger and the depth of the divisions in Slovakia were among the most disturbing I have witnessed, and resulted in the return to power last year of Robert Fico, the populist leader now fighting for his life after an attempted murder.
We still don’t know the motive for the shooting, although a “lone wolf” appeared in court today charged with attempted murder.
But as the world’s attention falls on this small Eastern European nation sandwiched between Austria and Ukraine, it holds crucial lessons for other democracies.
I have heard discontent around the world, but the intensity of the anger and the depth of the divisions in Slovakia are among the most disturbing I have witnessed, writes IAN BIRRELL
Pictured: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s security team detains his attacker during Wednesday’s shooting.
Fico’s shooting was another horribly violent attack on an elected politician
Despite resigning after the murder of a journalist investigating his government five years ago, Fico reemerged as a far-right populist.
Firstly, this was another horribly violent attack on an elected politician, something we have seen in Britain with the recent sickening murders of two British MPs.
As Slovakia’s president Zuzana Čaputová said after the first assassination attempt on a European leader in more than two decades, the shooting was an individual act, “but the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective work.”
Political discourse has become toxic with the country divided into two camps by Fico, the poison deliberately stirred by evil forces exploiting social media without restraint, but there are disturbing parallels across the West.
Consider how a country invaded by Moscow, as far as I can remember, re-elected a disgraced populist with ties to the Italian mafia, a man who supports a Russian despot guilty of unleashing gruesome carnage on his neighboring nation.
Fico may be a shrewd pragmatist – the polite expression for the shifting populism that saw him slide down the political spectrum – but his restoration to power was notable after being ignominiously forced from office five years earlier.
He looked finished: he was far more likely to end up behind bars than back in power after mass protests that followed the murder of a journalist investigating corruption and the Italian mafia’s ties to his government.
Shortly after the murder of the journalist and his girlfriend, Fico resigned due to public outrage. However, he recovered, defying attempts to link him to the coup and reinventing himself as a far-right populist.
Let us keep in mind that this elusive character was a former communist. When he was a young lawyer, he represented his nation before the European Court of Human Rights. He then took power adopting Tony Blair’s ‘Third Way’ centrist style.
In his latest incarnation, Fico began regurgitating Vladimir Putin’s propaganda, promising to stop supplying weapons to kyiv and ending sanctions on Russia. A former defense minister called him a “Trojan horse” for the Kremlin.
He won by imitating the illiberalism of Viktor Orban in Hungary, the brutal rhetoric of Donald Trump in the United States and the divisive tactics behind the rise of the far right in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and even the socialist nirvana of Sweden.
These fissures were exposed last September when Igor Matovič, another former prime minister, became embroiled in a fight with one of Fico’s closest allies after arriving at a campaign rally in a truck emblazoned with the slogan “We will not hand you over.” to the mafia.” ‘.
In his latest incarnation, Fico has regurgitated Putin’s propaganda and promised to end sanctions on Russia and stop arms supplies to Ukraine.
A former defense minister called him a “Trojan horse” for the Kremlin.
One survey found that less than half of Slovaks still believed liberal democracy was good for their country.
After Fico’s first term, Slovakia had four prime ministers in as many years, and citizens’ trust in the government remained low.
A man I met in Bratislava the next day promised to leave the country if Fico returned. A woman walking her dog in the city’s Freedom Square told me that she wouldn’t dare have children if he won. “Everything he says is a lie,” she said. “I’m afraid things are going to get bad.”
Others were simply incredulous, including a Russian who fled Putin’s regime to study in Slovakia. “Going to Europe was like a dream, so I want this beautiful country to grow and open like a flower.”
But for many – and not just in struggling post-communist democracies – that precious ideal of a flourishing democracy is withering due to public despair over inept and selfish politicians in a stormy era.
While I was in Slovakia, my notebook was filled with fury because voters felt betrayed by all their leaders. “They’re all idiots who don’t care about the country,” said a warehouse worker in Fico’s hometown. “They just want to throw dirt at each other,” said one builder.
One poll found that less than half of people still believed liberal democracy was good for their country. There were four prime ministers in the four years after Fico. Only one in seven citizens trusted his government.
Matovic, an anti-corruption activist, came to power after Fico’s ouster promising to clean up politics, but his government dissolved into chaos and bickering. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Fico took advantage of frustration over his man-of-the-people pose, targeting minorities and promising economic recovery backed by more social spending.
He then shut down the anti-corruption agency, passed a sort of Russian-inspired law on NGO funding that sparked gigantic protests in Georgia, tried to dismantle the state broadcaster, and called its president an American agent.
Čaputová, the country’s most trusted politician and a staunch supporter of kyiv, was ousted from politics over death threats and personal attacks. Her successor, elected last month, is a Fico ally who shares her stance on Ukraine.
Fico was aided in his return to power by disinformation and agitation by Russia’s divisions, which saw Slovakia as a weak link in the EU and NATO.
The Slovak Prime Minister is being treated for his injuries at the FD Roosevelt hospital in the town of Banská Bystrica.
In the image: a child walks past a banner that says “Violence is not the way.” Slovakia shows the dangers when voters lose faith in elected leaders and systems
Few countries can afford to rely on their democracies, while economies stagnate and societies seem to fall apart.
Moscow funded locals who ran online sites that spread its propaganda, and a Russian official paid a collaborator caught on camera. A major Russian news channel even created a Slovak-language site from Crimea.
Once again, we see the need to address digital anarchy in this dark age of emboldened dictatorships. Watch as China’s communist regime rolled out the red carpet last week for its autocratic friend Putin as its bullet-riddled Slovakian puppet was airlifted to the hospital.
Slovakia also shows the dangers when voters lose faith in leaders and political systems, increasingly dismayed by constant tribal disputes and corruption as economies stagnate, public services decline and societies appear to fall apart.
Some Slovak voters told me they knew Fico was dubious, but considered him the lesser evil in the desperate hope that he could restore competition, growth and stability.
Fico tapped into electoral concerns about issues such as education, globalization, governance and inequality that are shared by many more voters around the world.
Few countries can afford to be complacent about their democracies. However, we seem accustomed to the deep cynicism that contaminates politics and the dismay of voters, and I have seen people indifferent to freedoms around the planet risk lives and share freedom.
Polls show rampant disillusionment in many democracies. “Countries can fall apart, but no one believes it can happen here,” an American politics professor told me after his last election as president was denied the result to worsen his divisions.
A few months later, people in Bosnia told me they felt the same way before Yugoslavia collapsed into civil war three decades ago. The following year, I heard the same words of disbelief from Ukrainians as their homes, their lives, and their country were shattered.
Last week’s shooting of the leader of a European nation was a terrible and tragic event. It serves in many ways as a profound warning to the rest of the free world in this dangerous and divided era for democracies.