In lieu of an in-depth comment for the moment, I will post here an annotated version of the powerpoint that I presented at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Thursday. It is a bit rough, as circumstances suggested an entirely new presentation rather than the one on "Voting for Thugs" that I had planned to give. So without further ado (which will come later):
Kevin Deegan-Krause, Second Time As Farce: Slovakia’s 2006 Elections in Comparative Perspective, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, 29 June 2006.
Download woodrow_wilson_center_presentation_revised.ppt
The question asked, and partially the conclusions are unnecessarily alarmist. While Fico has many traits common with Meciar, he has many (often the same)commonalities with Dzurinda or George Bush for that matter. There is no indication of Fico usurping power. Quite the contrary! The fact, that Slovakia is undertaking periodic (2 election periods)orderly changes in government is rather encouraging.