On 20 February, 2020 the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Bratislava and Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen/Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna, in the framework of the Europe's Futures program and in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, Bratislava orghanized the public forum “Democrats, national populists and extremists in the Slovak parliamentary elections 2020”.
Speakers included Grigorij Mesežnikov (political scientist, IVO president, fellow of the IWM Europe’s Futures program supported by Foundation of Slovenská Sporiteľňa), Oľga Gyárfášová (sociologist, Director of the Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University), Soňa Szomolányi (political scientist, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University). Discussion was moderated by Michal Hvorecký (writer and essayist).
Participants discussed a wide range of issues related to the process of democratic transformation of the Slovak Republic after the fall of the communist regime, development of the Slovak political scene, the results of previous parliamentary elections, and electoral behavior of citizens. They commented on the most recent polls, the dynamics of electoral support of individual parties, the phenomenon of OĽaNO movement, possible scenarios of post-election development, and the future destiny of Smer-SD party.
Photo
From the left: Grigorij Mesežnikov, Soňa Szomolányi, Oľga Gyárfášová, Michal Hvorecký
Program of the event [pdf]
Photo credit: Pavol Demeš
