Two shades of grey
Slovakia rejects Meciar, but is the new president a better deal?
By Beata Balogova
Photos Pavel Neubauer / MTI/AP/TASR, European Commission Audiovisual Library, Jura Nanuk / DT

The possibility of Slovakia's infamous ex-Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar moving to the Presidential Palace and taking over as the country's third president has dismayed those who thought, after failing to shape a cabinet in 2002, he remained only a living monument to the previous totalitarian regime.

Ivan Gasparovic, a true ally of of Meciar during the 1990s, beat his former boss April 17 in the second round of presidential elections, with 59.9 percent of the vote - which ensured the country entered the European Union May 1st without Meciar as president.

Ivan Gasparovic won the Slovak Presidential elections

Meciar, head of the opposition party Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), defeated poll favorite and ruling coalition candidate Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan in the first round by receiving just over 40 percent of the vote. Slovak voters shocked political analysts and polling agencies twice. The first was when they they let the clear favorite of the race, Kukan, drop out from the first round and instead voted in former Speaker of Parliament Gasparovic.

Under Meciar’s strong-handed government, Slovakia remained an instable, isolated nation during the mid-90s, and was viewed with skepticism by Europe.

Slovakia says no to Meciar
The second shock came after turnout for the second round was higher than analysts had anticipated (43.5 percent), and even sympathizers of the ruling coalition parties clearly said “No” to the return of Meciar.

Prior to the second round, some ruling coalition parties indirectly, and directly, called on people to ignore the elections, claiming that Meciar and Gasparovic were equally responsible for the policies that disqualified Slovakia from the first wave of NATO enlargement.

During his campaign, Gasparovic tried to cleanse himself of political sediments from the Meciar-era, which is seen as a period of wild privatization, alleged authoritarianism and undemocratic practices that provoked criticism by Western powers.

Gasparovic, who believes he can rid himself of his image as Meciar’s man, maintains that the former leader had a positive role in the early years of Slovakia’s independence, and even made beneficial steps.

“But then we, the HZDS, turned into a wagon hurtling down the tracks, not respecting the green light, the red light, the left, or the right turns. We went without using the breaks and we did not take into account some warnings that we should have in relation to the international community,” Gasparovic said in an interview with the Slovak Spectator.

Voters saw no change
According to political analyst Miroslav Kusy, Slovak voters understood that Meciar’s manners had not changed. Kusy also believes Gasparovic would be more acceptable abroad than his rival, since his reputation has not been as dramatically tarnished

“He was merely considered an executor of Meciar’s will in the HZDS,” said Kusy.
However, Gasparovic has rejected claims that his victory over his one-time, party-man Meciar was the result of Slovaks voting for the lesser of two evils.

Analysts compared the situation to 1999, when in the country’s first direct elections, Meciar - recovering from major election defeat - faced Kosice Mayor Rudolf Schuster, a powerful communist official prior to 1989. The Slovak people voted to eliminate the ex-prime minister, viewed as the iron-gate blocking the country on its road to democracy.

Slovak PM Mikulás Dzurinda

Since refusing to shake the hands of his rival in a live television debate on April 18, Meciar has avoided the media. Circles close to HZDS revealed that Meciar was crushed by the unexpected outcome of the presidential race, and some HZDS deputies lashed out at their boss for his stubborn behavior.

The group around Viliam Veteska, deputy chairman of HZDS, mailed a congratulatory telegram to Gasparovic, their former party mate.

These HZDS deputies also disagree with Meciar's statements that HZDS will distance itself from parliamentary parties, including Robert Fico's Smer. Left-wing Smer, led by populist Fico, supported Gasparovic’s candidacy.

Fico said Meciar paid the price for collaborating with the government of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, which has suffered from its loss of parliamentary majority. Fico claims that the HZDS boss promised silent support to Dzurinda.

Neither the HZDS, nor Dzurinda’s Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, have ever confirmed such negotiations. Dzurinda has, several times, openly rejected any collaboration with Meciar. However, the prime minister’s rhetoric since September 2003 has become much milder when talking about Meciar.

Serious dilemma
The one-time strongest political party in Slovakia faces a serious dilemma: It needs a stable political partner, but all the currently available partners have objections toward Meciar, who still enjoys considerable support from the regional bodies of HDZS.

" It has been a dilemma for the HZDS whether the party can be preserved without Meciar," political scientist Darina Malova told the SITA news wire.

Though the news on Meciar being boxed out made the international community sigh with relief, EU and NATO officials have been rather cautious about commenting on the new president.

“The Western world views the results as a victory of non-Meciar. They know nothing about Gasparovic, and this is his biggest advantage. The West mostly thought of it as a race between Meciar’s supporters and those against him. They had no idea that Gasparovic was only Meciar altered,” French political scientist Jacques Rupnik told the Slovak daily SME.

During the 1990s, Gasparovic was a true ally of Meciar - until the moment the HZDS boss unexpectedly omitted the party's second most popular man from the candidate list for 2002 parliamentary elections.

As an instant response to his boss' conduct, just two months before the parliamentary elections, Gasparovic quit HZDS and established his own party, naming it the Movement for Democracy (HZD), which has never made it to parliament. In response, Gasparovic left politics and returned to teaching law.

Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan suffered electoral defeat

During the communist regime, Gasparovic, born in 1941, taught at the Commenius University Law School. After the Velvet Revolution he served as Czechoslovakia's attorney general until 1992, when he became head of the Slovak legislature, remaining there until October 1998, when the first government of current Prime Minister Dzurinda replaced the HZDS-led coalition.

Among the first foreign policy statements that Gasparovic made was a commitment for the maintenance of Slovak troops in Iraq. Last year, though, Gasparovic was critical about the decision of the Dzurinda government to send the Slovak unit to Iraq, he has now maintained that the situation changed once Slovakia became a NATO member.

Concerning his acceptance abroad, however, Gasparovic may face problems of being linked with some nationalist political forces - including the Slovak National Party - that the international community considers clearly extremist.

Referring to the reaction to his and Meciar’s making it to the second round of the poll evoked concern among the international community, Gasparovic said, "If there were any negative responses abroad, I am certain that they did not concern me."