Slovakia's recent election victor, the leftist SMER-SSD party, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has secured an agreement with the center-left HLAS (Voice) and the nationalist SNS

parties to create a coalition government. The coalition is striving to establish a new government within this month, with Fico set to lead it.

HLAS, which separated from SMER in 2020 and secured the third position in the September 30 election, plays a pivotal role in government formation. Their decision to decline discussions with a liberal party on Tuesday has paved the way for an agreement with SMER.

Regarded as more moderate than SMER-SSD by analysts, HLAS aims to ensure Slovakia's foreign policy alignment with both the European Union and NATO. Photo by MGlen, Wikimedia commons.