The 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia Steadily Turbulent Change of Direction

In recent years Slovakia witnessed a dynamic development with crucial consequences for its domestic politics. Vast civic mobilization, the emergence of new parties and decline of a long-term hegemon - all these features culminated in the 2020 general election. We first introduce the results and discuss them from a longitudinal perspective of Slovak politics. Most importantly, despite a considerably large portion of correctly carted ballots for parties which failed to pass the institutional thresholds, the outcomes do not suggest that the representativity or proportionality of the Slovak political system is about to suffer. Second, we focus on the rise and ideological appeals of populist political parties. Although similar in many ways, we show important differences in their ideological platforms.