Slovakia's poll winner defies European consensus on Ukraine

Progressive Slovakia party leader Michal Simecka attends a press conference after the country's early parliamentary elections, in Bratislava, Slovakia, October 1, 2023. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) -Slovakia's pro-Russian and anti-liberal election winner Robert Fico was poised on Sunday to begin coalition talks to form a government likely to join Hungary in opposing the European Union's military aid for Ukraine.

The 59-year-old former prime minister's SMER-SSD party scored nearly 23% of Saturday's parliamentary poll, earning the president's nod to start talks to replace a technocrat government that has been backing Kyiv against Russia's invasion.