– “In my prayers, I invoke and wish all of Slovakia appeasement, countenance, success and universal progress for the inhabitants of our beautiful homeland”. With these words, Msgr. Bernard Bober, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia, commented on the results of last Saturday’s preterm parliamentary elections. Although the winner is SMER – Social Democracy with 22.94% of all votes, it does not have a broad coalition potential because of its infamous reputation of a party stained by corruption scandals. Some of its members and its president Robert Fico even face charges of forming and running a criminal group associated with their political past. The second most voted party is a parliamentary newcomer Progresívne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia, 17.96%) with a clean registry, but a truly progressive agenda that includes a strong support for same-sex marriages and the promotion of LGBTI rights, and a weaker social programme. Both parties have started with formal and informal talks with potential coalition partners – among them is a traditional Christian democratic movement (6.82%), which is returning to the National Council of the Slovak Republic after two election periods spent behind parliamentary gates. SMER as the winner has been given 14 days to find coalition partners by the president Zuzana Čaputová. Political analysts predict that the most likely coalition will be SNS (Slovak National Party) and HLAS (former faction of SMER which split off after the party’s failure in the 2020 elections).