Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Zsolt Gál: Argentina on the Danube - Populist Economic Policy as the Biggest Enemy of Sustainable Economic Growth
Zsolt Gál Graph 3 Results of parliamentary elections in Slovakia between 1992 and 2006: continuous dominance of anti-reform and populist parties 1998 (84,24%) 2002 (70,06%) Note: The abbreviations in columns refer to political parties, absolute numbers refer to the number of valid ballots cast for these parties, and percentages at the bottom of columns refer to voter participation (i.e. the ratio of participating and eligible voters). Left-wing populist anti-reform parties: HZDS - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (in 1994 in alliance with the Party of Slovak Farmers), HZD - Movement for Democracy, SDĽ - Party of Democratic Left (in 1994 led the Common Choice coalition), SDA - Social-Democratic Alternative, ZRS - Association of Slovak Workers, KSS - Communist Party of Slovakia, SNS - Slovak National Party, P-SNS - Genuine Slovak National Party. Right-wing pro-reform parties: DS - Democratic Party, DU - Democratic Union, SDK - Slovak Democratic Coalition, SDKU - Slovak Democratic and Christian Union- Democratic Party, SMK-MKP - Party of Hungarian Coalition, MK - Hungarian Coalition, MKM-EGY - Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement-Coexistence, KDH - Christian Democratic Movement, ANO - Alliance of a New Citizen. Subjects that are difficult to classify: SOP - Party of Civic Understanding, SF - Freedom Forum. Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic: Volebnú štatistika. Parlamentné voľby [Election Statistics: Parliamentary Elections], 2009. The only reason why Mikuláš Dzurinda was able to form two consecutive refonn-oriented administrations (1998-2002 and 2002-2006) was a favourable coincidence of political circumstances. In 1998, the entire spectrum of democratic forces (including left-wing parties) united against hard populists and formed a single ‘mother of all coalitions’. In 2002, the anti-reform bloc of populist parties saw too many of their voters’ ballots forfeited because some of these parties split up and most of their smaller successors failed to get over the prescribed 5% threshold.15 200
