Fico forms coalition government, set to be next Slovak prime minister.

Robert Fico, Slovakia's former prime minister whose party SMER won the recent parliamentary elections, has signed a deal to form a coalition government, the Associated Press (AP) reported Oct.

11. SMER now has the right to appoint the next prime minister, paving the way for Fico to take office again. The coalition government will be made up of Fico's populist SMER party, the left-wing Hlas party, and the ultra-nationalist pro-Russian Slovak National Party.

The Oct.

11 agreement grants SMER 42 seats in parliament, with Hlas receiving 27 and the Slovak National Party gaining 10. The deal leaves the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, which took second place in the Sept.

30 elections, in the opposition. They hold 32 seats.

Fico's party won the parliamentary elections after running on a pro-Russian, populist platform. One of his key campaign promises was to immediately end all military aid to Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova refused to sign a new assistance package prepared by the defense ministry, saying it was necessary to respect the outcome of the elections.

It is not clear when Caputova will swear in the new government.

Opinion: Slovak election results threaten Europe's united front Slovakia's early parliamentary elections on Sept.

30 resulted in a clear victory for pro-Kremlin politician Robert Fico and his party, SMER. While we don't know which parties will form the government, scenarios in which Fico is not the strongest party leader of the ruling coalition are not really

News Editor

Abbey Fenbert is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University.

Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.