The issue of migrants is helping governing party Smer-SD while, surprisingly, the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) is losing votes. This was reported on the SME daily on Tuesday. The paper reports that a fear of migrants - to which Prime Minister Robert Fico is contributing - has pushed Smer-SD near the 40-percent level in a recent poll by the polling agency Focus. This is at the expense of the Slovak National Party - Smer-SD's most likely coalition ally. The chance that Smer may govern on its own is increasing, or at least the alternative that it will be in coalition with some from the current opposition. Sociologist Martin Slosiarik from Focus says that Smer is using topics that usually SNS has exploited, being the party that "tries to present itself as a patriotic party". In September's poll Smer-SD achieved 37.7 percent - an increase of 3.1 percentage points compared to August - whereas SNS's popularity fell by 0.6 percentage points in the same period. Slosiarik attributes this to the refugee issue. Smer is against mandatory quotas on refugee relocation, as is the majority of the populace. A coalition between the leftist Smer-SD party and the right-wing Slovak National Party would be nothing new, however it's not without its problems. In 2006, Smer-SD's membership in the Party of European Socialists was suspended due to its coalition with SNS, then under the leadership of Jan Slota. According to Smer-SD MP Peter Fitz, the increase in Smer-SD's popularity is not solely due to the refugee crisis, but rather a result of "responsible policy over four years of governing". Fitz added that Smer-SD does not consider SNS as a competitor.

Gavin Shoebridge, Photo: SITA