By Pavol Stracansky
BRATISLAVA, Apr 19 2004 (IPS)

Hardline nationalist former prime minister Vladimir Meciar has been beaten in Slovakia’s presidential elections by his former political ally Ivan Gasparovic in what has been widely seen as a vote for a lesser evil.

Gasparovic’s victory in a straight run-off between the two candidates just weeks before the country joins the EU (European Union) was a big upset. Meciar, who had won the first round of the elections two weeks previously, had been widely expected to win this weekend.

Instead, Gasparovic scored a crushing victory, winning 42 of the 50 electoral constituencies, taking 60 percent of the vote.

But while Gasparovic appears to be a more attractive choice of president in the West where Meciar is remembered for leading Slovakia into international isolation in the 1990s, his victory has been seen as more a vote against Meciar than support for him.

"People seemed to be prepared to go out and vote a lesser evil," political scientist Michal Vasecka told IPS. "He was supported by the right-wing nationalist Slovak National Party and if Brussels is really watching closely they won’t be filled with optimism by him."

Gasparovic is not very well known "and for that reason he is more acceptable to the West," Vasecka said. "But there’s not a lot of difference between him and Meciar and there could be problems with cooperation between the government and the President."

Chairman of parliament between 1996 and 1998 and Meciar’s right-hand man in the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party until two years ago, Gasparovic was linked to many of the scandals that led Meciar and his governments to become pariahs in the West.

Between 1993 and 1998 three HZDS-led governments were heavily criticised by western leaders over apparent abuses of human rights and anti-western and nationalist policies, including the alleged surveillance of political opponents and journalists, a marred referendum on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) entry that saw Slovakia left out of the first wave of NATO expansion in 1999, and a raft of dubious privatisations of state assets.

Gasparovic distanced himself from his former party’s scandals leading up to the elections and in a number of television and radio debates said that he had, within the party, objected to many of the HZDS’s most controversial policies but had seen those objections ignored.

But Gasparovic’s past in the HZDS, his campaign criticism of the government’s reforms and the support he had from Slovakia’s most popular party, the opposition Smer party, has raised questions over how the coalition government will work with him to push forward with its reforms.

As president Gasparovic has a power of veto that allows him to return laws to parliament. To override that veto the support of a majority of all deputies, at least 76, would be required.

A president constantly returning laws could, political experts fear, effectively paralyse the minority government.

To what extent Gasparovic would be prepared to use that veto is unclear. Current president Rudolf Schuster returned a number of laws, including key legislation on taxes and other reforms during his five years as president, and he came to be seen as one of the government’s heaviest critics.

"No one is sure how Gasparovic will utilise his powers," Vasecka said. "No one knows what he might do."

Gasparovic said after the elections that he had no wish to see any of the government’s reforms to date halted or reversed. But speaking on private JoJ TV he said he wanted to see the government find "solutions to some of the effects of those reforms."

Coalition leaders were cautiously optimistic in their response to questions on future cooperation with the President.

Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda told journalists Sunday that "as far as I am concerned, with the appointment of Gasparovic to the post of president we can continue with reforms."

Eric Van der Linden, head of the European Commission’s delegation to Slovakia, said Gasparovic’s past in the HZDS should not be an obstacle for the government’s current reforms.

"Slovakia has a good international standing and the developments in the country have been widely praised," he told the SITA news agency. "I am convinced that the new President will support the process of transformation of Slovak society. Mr Gasparovic as the next President will use his great political experience to see the country move in the right direction."

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