51 percent of Slovaks felt that either Ukraine or the West was "primarily responsible" for the conflict in Ukraine

"A leader who has railed against NATO and sanctions on Russia appears poised for a strong showing. That could threaten Europe's unity on support for Ukraine.

Voters in Slovakia headed to the polls on Saturday for an election that represents more than just a vote in a small Central European nation with less than six million people. It could also alter the contours of what has been a mostly united front in Europe against Russia.

Slovakia, which shares its eastern border with Ukraine, has been one of the strongest backers of its neighbor since the start of events in Ukraine, and was the first to send it air-defense missiles and fighter jets earlier this year.

But candidates that oppose supporting Ukraine and the West are expected to make a strong showing in the election, and that could have far-reaching repercussions.

Here is what to know:

Who is expected to win?

For the past few years, Slovakia, which is part of the European Union, has been led by a pro-Western center-right government. That government collapsed in December and was replaced by a series of caretaker leaders.

Opinion polls show that the front-runner in the election on Saturday is Direction -- Social Democracy, or SMER, a populist left-wing party headed by Robert Fico. Mr. Fico is a former prime minister who has opposed sanctions against Russia and has railed against NATO, of which Slovakia has been a member since 2004.

The race has tightened significantly in the last few weeks, with SMER, though still ahead, losing ground to Progresivne Slovensko, a liberal party.

Because there are so many parties running -- more than a dozen in all -- no single party is likely to get anything like a majority. Slovakia has a proportional system, which helps smaller parties win seats and dilutes the ability of the bigger parties to form stable governments without help from rival parties.

The big question is not just who gets the most votes, but who will agree to form a government with whom. Even if Mr. Fico's SMER gets the most votes, it may not be able to form a government.

Mr. Fico, a pugnacious bruiser tainted by corruption scandals during his time as prime minister, is deeply unpopular with many voters outside the loyal base of his own party, which accounts for up to a quarter of the electorate. While nominally on the left, he also attracts some support on the far right. He resigned in 2018 after mass demonstrations over the murder of a journalist who was digging into evidence of government corruption.

In recent months, Mr. Fico has criticized the West and said that, if elected, he would halt military support for Ukraine.

How did we get here?

From the beginning of the events in Ukraine, Slovakia has supported Ukraine. But pro-Russia information has also proliferated in the country.

Much of it is spread by pro-Russian groups in Slovakia on social media, and by news outlets known for recycling Russian information, in what the country's president, Zuzana Caputova, has described as a concerted campaign. Those messages have found fertile ground in a country where sympathies for Moscow run deep.

Experts say that these polarizing narratives and messages have capitalized on people's frustration with skyrocketing inflation, high energy prices, dissatisfaction with the response of their leaders to the coronavirus pandemic, and bickering among governing politicians.

But they also build on the country's history, said Katarina Klingova, a senior research fellow at Globsec, a policy institute in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital. Many voters came of age when the country was controlled by the Soviet Union, and some have nostalgic memories of it, Ms. Klingova said.

A Globsec survey in March of public opinion across Eastern and Central Europe found that 51 percent of Slovaks felt that either Ukraine or the West was "primarily responsible" for the conflict. 

The figure is much lower in other Eastern European countries.

Why does the election matter?

A good performance by Mr. Fico and far-right parties that oppose supporting Ukraine would make the country officially more sympathetic to Russia. That would bolster a position adopted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who has been outspoken in his opposition to helping Ukraine, but has so far been confined to the sidelines on the issue in Europe.

While Slovakia ranks 19th in terms of the resources it has sent to Ukraine and a halt in its military support would not have major repercussions, analysts fear that the success of parties who are opposed to helping Ukraine might aid Russia in creating fractures in Europe's support for the country.

Ms. Klingova also said that a victory for a populist party like SMER could push Slovakia closer to the model of "illiberal democracy" championed by Mr. Orban in Hungary, citing recent attacks on civil society organizations by several party leaders. Lubos Blaha, who is now the deputy leader of Mr. Fico's SMER party, has also made inflammatory comments about L.G.B.T.Q. issues.

Other observers say that unlike Hungary, Slovakia has a fragmented political landscape, making it more difficult for one group to push an illiberal agenda.

European Union officials have also said that Slovakia's election will be a test case of how susceptible countries in the bloc can be to Russian propaganda." [1]

What is pushed by European Union officials is not pro-Western propaganda. Is just singing of the fallen angels, or something. Angels that nobody ever elected, that nobody knows, that never did anything good for humanity or Western European countries, that are pushing destruction and suffering on us all.

1. With a Populist Favored, Slovakia's Election Could Reverberate in Ukraine: [Foreign Desk]. Bubola, Emma.  New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast); New York, N.Y.. 01 Oct 2023: A.14.