Independent mayoral candidates dominated Saturday's local elections, as they were elected in 1,232 towns and villages in Slovakia, representing 42.42 percent of the total. The overall voter-turnout reached 48.67 percent.
Second in the elections was the Smer-SD party, whose candidates succeeded in 592 towns and villages (20.38 percent) followed by the Slovak National Party (SNS) with 160 mayors (5.50 percent) and the Christian Democrats (KDH) with 157 mayors (5.40 percent). The top five was completed by the Most-Hid party, gaining 127 mayors (4.37 percent). The ethnic-Hungarian SMK-MKP party obtained 115 mayoral posts, while in the towns and villages inhabited by ethnic Hungarians, SMK-MKP clearly came first compared to its main rival, the Most-Hid party.
As for the most successful coalitions in the local elections, Smer-SD/SNS alliances won 142 mayoral posts (4.88 percent).
When it came to local councillors in individual towns and villages, independent candidates again gained the most seats (7,301 seats; 35.36 percent). As for the party candidates, SMER-SD party won 3692 seats (17,88 percent), KDH 2,350 seats (11.38 percent), SNS 1,678 seats (8.12 percent), SMK-MKP 1,248 (6.04 percent), Most-Híd 915 (4.43 percent). Other parties and coalitions filled less than 300 posts in the municipal councils.
The local elections were held in 2,919 towns and villages across Slovakia. A total of 4,494,400 people were entitled to cast their votes, of which 2,187,735 did so. "Given the fact that these were local elections, we can say that the turnout was good," said commission chairman Eduard Barany, adding that the elections were held correctly and in a peaceful atmosphere.
(TASR, Minority Report, 11 Nov 2018)
