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DE RUEHSL #0952/01 3421543
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P 081543Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0520
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000952 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAK LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS: LOCAL POLITICS ARE 
LOCAL 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 938 
     ¶B. BRATISLAVA 914 
     ¶C. BRATISLAVA 823 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Slovakia's nationwide December 2 municipal 
elections demonstrated that Slovaks care about local politics 
and that the national-level political scene does not strongly 
influence the selection of local leaders.  Most - but not all 
- major political parties were satisfied with the results as 
they managed, in one manner of counting or another, to gain 
local seats.  Independent candidates also faired well.  Prime 
Minister Robert Fico probably believes he comes out of the 
elections with even more leverage over his troublesome 
coalition partners: SNS (Slovak National Party) and HZDS 
(Movement for Democratic Slovakia).  One surprise upset: the 
unseating of Jan Slota, four-time mayor of Zilina and 
controversial head of SNS, who may now have more time to 
spend on the national scene.  Romani candidates did not have 
a good success rate overall, but made some small steps 
forward.  END SUMMARY. 
 
SLOVAKS - LESS APATHETIC THAN EXPECTED 
-------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) At 48 percent, voter turnout in Slovakia's 
nationwide local elections for mayors and city council 
members on December 2 surpassed expected participation. 
Though PM Fico declared the elections a victory for his Smer 
party, in fact most of the parliamentary parties fared well 
and expressed satisfaction with the results.  HZDS is the 
exception, as it lost nearly half of its mayoral seats. 
Smer, HZDS, and SNS candidates now account for 1011 mayors. 
Opposition parties SDKU (Slovak Democratic and Christian 
Union), SMK (Party of the Hungarian Coalition), and KDH 
(Christian Democratic Movement) have 575 mayors.  On the 
whole, center-right opposition candidates fared better in 
larger cities and towns, including Bratislava and Kosice, 
meaning that despite the smaller number of mayoral seats won, 
a reasonable estimate would show that opposition mayors 
represent a similar percentage of the overall population as 
coalition mayors.  Independent candidates won 895 posts.  In 
an out-of-nowhere story, independent candidate Pavol Hagyari, 
a well-known lawyer in Bratislava, defeated an independent 
incumbent and four party-affiliated candidates to win a 
resounding victory in Presov, the country's third largest 
city. (For background on candidates, issues, and structure of 
Slovakia's local elections, see refs A and B.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Slovak voters, who have the chance to elect local 
leaders once every four years, showed that local politics 
remain local, despite the record-high popularity of Fico and 
Smer at the national level.  In many cases, local candidates 
were supported by a mix of parties that did not reflect the 
national level coalition and opposition groupings.  In 
Bratislava, for example, re-elected mayor Andrej Durkovsky 
had the support of KDH and SDKU but SMK joined Smer and HZDS 
in backing Smer party member Monika Benova-Flasikova.  At the 
town council level, a surprising thirty Romani candidates 
across numerous small villages ran solely on behalf of the 
far-right and often racist SNS.  Election observers overheard 
voters talk about local issues, such as cleaning up a 
cemetery, while heading to the polls. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The voter turnout, coalition mixes, and results show 
that Slovak voters care about local issues and can easily 
distinguish local versus national politics.  Though some Smer 
candidates probably received a bump from the belief that 
connections to the national coalition could help a 
municipality, this was not a significant factor.  Elections 
monitors, primarily the NGO "Civic Eye", noted a few 
irregularities but not to the extent that the elections could 
be called into question.  Some vote buying was reported in a 
few of the poorest Romani areas, including Krompachy and 
Spisske Nova Ves. 
 
ZILINA SAYS "SO LONG, SLOTA" 
---------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) A united opposition and vocal campaign spurred the 
biggest surprise of the elections.  Ivan Harman, former 
General Secretary of SDKU and currently backed by four 
parties and numerous civic groups, upset incumbent Jan Slota 
to become mayor of Zilina, Slovakia's fifth largest city and 
home to the new KIA car factory.  Slota, the controversial 
head of SNS known for his racist statements, was overly 
confident (and perhaps preoccupied with his son's serious 
case of malaria) and made almost no effort to campaign.  The 
mayor-elect announced that he will conduct an investigation 
into the city's finances from the past four terms of Slota's 
administration. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The loss hurts Slota's credibility and stature.  He 
lashed out theatrically against his city, proclaiming that 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000952  002 OF 002 
 
 
Zilina citizens will lose significant benefits he could have 
brought them based on SNS's control of three national level 
ministries, which control billions of euros worth of 
structural funds (ref C).  However, less than a week after 
the election, KIA announced it will increase its investment 
in Zilina.  Some observers speculate that, with more time to 
focus on national politics, Slota's statements may become 
even more radicalized and he may be more difficult for Fico 
to control.  On the other hand, Slota may not want to rock 
the boat too much because of his ministers' control over 
financial flows and his need to maintain enough credibility 
for SNS to be re-elected to the national parliament four 
years hence. (NOTE: Slota could have a personal interest 
maintaining his parliamentary immunity to protect himself 
from potential prosecution based on investigation into his 
16-year administration of Zilina.  END NOTE.)  At any rate, 
Slota continues to have significant business interests in 
Zilina, so he cannot completely abandon the local scene for 
the national one. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Slota's loss and HZDS's loss of several mayors led 
one HZDS official to predict that PM Fico would show less 
flexibility towards her party because of Smer's stronger 
showing in comparison to that its partners.  She said that 
party officials initiated a "lessons learned" assessment of 
their campaign. 
 
NON-ROMA CAN SUPPORT ROMA CANDIDATES 
------------------------------------ 
¶8. (SBU) Outside of Kosice, which has one council district 
composed of entirely of a Roma housing settlement, the 
largest town to vote in a Romani city council member was 
Levoca, population approximately 15,000.  The results were 
disappointing for Romani candidates in larger cities, such as 
Presov and Banska Bystrica, but even losing candidates 
learned useful lessons.  Several candidates who went 
door-to-door campaigning in the non-Roma part of their 
council districts received a surprising number of non-Roma 
votes.  These candidates found that many non-Roma agreed that 
their towns, having a significant Roma population, needed 
Romani town council members to help work on Romani issues. 
It appears that some of them were just waiting for a 
qualified candidate to introduce himself.  A Romani candidate 
in Presov, for example, estimates that half the votes he 
received were from non-Roma voters.  He intends to spend more 
time campaigning in non-Roma neighborhoods next time around. 
Other unsuccessful candidates noted that their involvement 
with political parties or networks of independent politicians 
has increased their access and cooperation with those who did 
win, enabling them to have a greater impact on local issues 
even without sitting on a council. 
 
¶9. (SBU) In the village of Zehra, population under 2000 
inhabitants - about three-quarters of whom are Roma living in 
a segregated settlement of so-called "social housing" that 
the government built for them five kilometers outside the 
town, the new mayor and entire town council are Romani.  The 
mayor-elect designed a campaign specifically to appeal to 
Roma voters.  He created a billboard showing him shaking 
hands with his older brother, a deceased community leader. 
The caption read "Brother, I give you my strength."  Romani 
communities have significant respect for the dead, so this 
strategy helped to overcome the jealousies and family divides 
that often split Romani votes.  The concern is that the 
billboard had been photo-shopped together, but many people in 
the settlement were too naive to realize that modern 
technology was involved and believed that the older brother 
had come back from the dead to take a picture and support the 
mayoral candidate. 
VALLEE