Slovaks head to the polls – with EU, NATO directives

Former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's summer home cost $1 million to build, a mammoth sum in this impoverished central European country. But when reporters here ask the politician where he got the money, he replies with vague allusions to a mysterious German creditor – and last week Mr. Meciar hit a television journalist who kept asking.

It was typically brazen Meciar style. Controversial and charismatic, Meciar is a political icon here. But his repressive brand of nationalist populism, alleged corruption, and authoritarian contempt for the media have raised hackles both at home and abroad.

Both NATO and the European Union have made it clear that Slovaks must put an end to Meciar's political career in elections Saturday – or face continued isolation from the West. As long as Meciar remains in the political picture, Slovakia cannot be accepted into Western clubs, including NATO and the EU, Western diplomats say.

Meciar headed Slovakia's government after its 1992 independence from Czechoslovakia until 1998, and he has remained the single most powerful politician – even after being deposed by a broad coalition of opposition parties.

When the neighboring Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999, Slovakia was excluded because of suspicions over Meciar's close ties to Moscow and his alleged role in a state-organized kidnapping and murder. Meciar's administration was condemned by human rights groups and Western governments as lacking commitment to democratic principles.

While many in Slovakia would like to see his influence ended, those same people often worry that the West is coming too close to openly influencing the vote.

In the run-up to the elections, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenther Verheugen have warned Slovaks that if Meciar wins, they will be shunned by the West again. "Those citizens who want to be in NATO must vote for parties that will take Slovakia into NATO. It is as simple as that," Mr. Robertson said in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, earlier this year.

US President George Bush has told Slovak President Rudolf Schuster that Slovakia should form a new government, and one acceptable to NATO, before the alliance's November summit in nearby Prague. Polls show that more than 50 percent of Slovaks would agree to join NATO, up from 35 percent two years ago. The change in public attitude was achieved by an intensive campaign to explain NATO to Slovaks, spearheaded by the anti-Meciar coalition government and western-backed advocacy groups.

Last month, after being told by US officials that the Prague summit would probably be Slovakia's last chance to join NATO, Mr. Schuster made a desperate appeal to the public to vote for parties supported by the West. "If we miss this chance now, we could find ourselves behind closed doors again, but this time for a long time," he said in a televised speech.

Even so, Meciar's party, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) consistently led in the polls, claiming around 30 percent of the electorate, significantly more than any other party, until three weeks ago. Then, suddenly, a group of Meciar's closest supporters, inspired partly by western demands that Meciar be cast out, broke away from HZDS to form the Movement for Democracy (HZD). Around 10 percent of the electorate followed. As a result, HZDS is now tied to the brand-new SMER Party of Robert Fico, a similar charismatic populist. No other polls are allowed until the vote, but analysts say there is a chance Meciar will come in second.

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