Pro-Russian ex-PM Fico wins Slovak election, needs allies for government

People walk past an election posters ahead of the country's parliamentary election in Bratislava, Slovakia, September 29, 2023. REUTERS/Eva Korinkova

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia's leftist former Prime Minister Robert Fico beat his progressive rival in a parliamentary election after campaigning to end military aid to Ukraine, but he will need to win over allies to form the next government, nearly complete results showed on Sunday.

With 98% of voting districts reporting in the Saturday election, Fico's SMER-SSD party led with 23.37% of the vote. The liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) followed with 16.86% and the HLAS (Voice) party, which could become the kingmaker for forming the next government, was third with 15.03%.