Slovaks participated on Saturday, September 30, in a closely contested early election that holds significant importance in determining whether the country will continue its support for Ukraine, especially in the wake of a campaign characterized by the spread of disinformation.

Slovaks voted on Saturday in a tight early election seen as key to whether the country will keep supporting neighboring Ukraine after a campaign marked by disinformation.

Polling stations across the EU and NATO member of 5.4 million people will close at 2000 GMT, with exit polls expected shortly afterwards and the final results due on Sunday morning.

Two parties were neck-and-neck in the final opinion polls, the left-wing Smer-SD of populist former premier Robert Fico and the centrist Progressive Slovakia of European Parliament vice-speaker Michal Simecka.

Both parties scored around 20 percent backing, which means the election winner will need help from smaller parties to form a majority coalition in the 150-seat parliament.

The new government will replace a wobbly center-right coalition in power since 2020, which has seen three cabinets installed over the period and provided hefty military and humanitarian aid to war-stricken Ukraine.

In the heated election campaign, Fico took aim at the EU, NATO and the LGBTQ+ minority and rejected providing any further military aid to Ukraine.

Slovakia emerged as an independent country in 1993, following a peaceful split with the Czech Republic after Czechoslovakia shed a totalitarian communist rule of four decades in 1989.

Although many Slovaks have experience with the Moscow-steered communist regime, many will vote for populists vowing to stop helping Ukraine.

Analyses have shown half of the nation is prone to believing disinformation, largely spread by the Kremlin.

The choice of coalition partners is fairly broad, with 11 parties expected to win parliamentary seats.

Fico is likely to woo Smer-SD’s spin-off Hlas-SD, led by former Smer-SD vice-chairman Peter Pellegrini, as a coalition partner.

Pellegrini became premier in 2018 after Fico had to step down amid nationwide protests following the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee.

Kuciak uncovered links between the Italian mafia and Fico’s government in his last article published posthumously.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP