Editing History of Slovakia (section)

==Contemporary period==

===Independent Slovakia===
[[File:Slovakia-CIA WFB Map.png|thumb|right|210px|A map of modern [[Slovakia]]]]
In an [[Slovak parliamentary election, 1992|election held in June 1992]], [[Václav Klaus]]'s Civic Democratic Party won in Czechia on a platform of economic reform, and [[Vladimír Mečiar]]'s [[Movement for a Democratic Slovakia]] (HZDS) emerged as the leading party in Slovakia, on a platform of Slovak autonomy. Mečiar and Klaus negotiated the [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|agreement to divide Czechoslovakia]], and Mečiar's party – HZDS – ruled Slovakia for most of its first five years as an independent state, except for a 9-month period in 1994 after a vote of no-confidence, during which a reformist government under Prime Minister [[Jozef Moravčík]] operated.

The first president of newly independent Slovakia was [[Michal Kováč]]. The first prime minister, Mečiar, had served as the prime minister of the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia since 1992.

[[Rudolf Schuster]] won [[Slovak presidential election, 1999|the presidential election in May 1999]]. Mečiar's semi-authoritarian government allegedly breached democratic norms and the [[rule of law]] before its replacement after the parliamentary elections of 1998 by a coalition led by [[Mikuláš Dzurinda]].

The first Dzurinda government made numerous political and economic reforms that enabled Slovakia to enter the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD), close virtually all chapters in [[European Union]] (EU) negotiations, and make itself a strong candidate for accession to [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO). However, the popularity of the governing parties declined sharply, and several new parties that earned relatively high levels of support in public opinion polls appeared on the political scene. Mečiar remained the leader (in opposition) of the HZDS, which continued to receive the support of 20% or more of the population during the first Dzurinda government.

In the September 2002 parliamentary election, a last-minute surge in support for Prime Minister Dzurinda's [[Slovak Democratic and Christian Union]] (SDKÚ) gave him a mandate for a second term. He formed a government with three other center-right parties: the [[Party of the Hungarian Coalition]] (SMK), the [[Christian Democratic Movement|Christian Democrats]] (KDH) and the [[Alliance of the New Citizen]] (ANO). The coalition won a narrow (three-seat) majority in the parliament. [[Dzurinda's Second Cabinet]] (2002–2006) announced strong NATO and EU integration and said they would continue the democratic and free market-oriented reforms begun by the first Dzurinda government.

The new coalition's main priorities were aimed at gaining NATO and EU invitations, attracting foreign investment, and reforming social services such as the health-care system. Vladimír Mečiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, which received about 27% of the vote in 1998 (almost 900,000 votes), received only 19.5% (about 560,000 votes) in 2002 and again went into opposition, unable to find coalition partners. The opposition comprised the HZDS, [[Direction – Social Democracy|Smer]] (led by [[Robert Fico]]), and the [[Communist Party of Slovakia|Communists]], who obtained about 6% of the popular vote.

Initially, Slovakia experienced more difficulty than the Czech Republic in developing a modern [[market economy]]. Slovakia [[Enlargement of NATO|joined NATO on 29 March 2004]] and [[2004 enlargement of the European Union|the EU on 1 May 2004]]. Slovakia was, on 10 October 2005, for the first time elected to a two-year term on the [[UN Security Council]] (for 2006–2007).

The next election took place on 17 June 2006, where the leftist Smer got 29.14% (around 670 000 votes) of the popular vote and formed a coalition with Slota's [[Slovak National Party]] and Mečiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. Their opposition comprised the former ruling parties: the SDKÚ, the SMK and the KDH.
 
[[File:Protest po vražde Jána Kuciaka a Martiny Kušnírovej, 9. marca 2018.jpg|thumb|right|Massive anti-government rally in Bratislava, 9 March 2018]]
The [[Slovak parliamentary election, 2010|election in June 2010]] was won by Smer with 34.8% but Fico was unable to form a government, so a coalition of SDKU, KDH, SaS and Most-Hid took over, with [[Iveta Radičová]] as the first woman prime minister.<ref>{{cite news |title=First Slovak female PM Iveta Radicova takes power |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/10567364 |work=BBC News |date=9 July 2010}}</ref> This government fell after the vote of the European Financial Stability Fund was connected with a no-confidence vote, as SaS argued, that Slovakia, should not bail out much richer countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Slovak president to meet party heads over interim government |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slovakia-government-idUSTRE79D1J820111014 |work=Reuters |date=14 October 2011 |language=en}}</ref>

Smer won the [[Slovak parliamentary election, 2012|election in 2012]] with 44,42%. Fico formed [[Fico's Second Cabinet|his Second Cabinet]]. It was a single-party government claiming 83 of the 150 seats.<ref>{{cite news |title=Slovakia gets new government – DW – 04/04/2012 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/slovakias-new-pm-pledges-to-bring-down-deficit/a-15859992 |work=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> 
It officially supported the position of the EU during the [[Russo-Ukrainian War|Russian military invasion of Ukraine (2014–present)]] but sometimes doubted the efficacy of EU sanctions against Russia. In autumn 2015, during the [[European migrant crisis]], the leaders of the four [[Visegrád Group]] states rejected the EU's proposal to reallocate 120,000 refugees.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gotev |first1=Georgi |title=Visegrad summit rejects migrant quotas |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/visegrad-summit-rejects-migrant-quotas/ |work=www.euractiv.com |date=7 September 2015}}</ref> 
The [[Slovak parliamentary election, 2016|election 2016]] took place in March 2016; some days later Fico formed his [[Fico's Third Cabinet|Third Cabinet]], composed of four parties.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gabrizova |first1=Zuzana |title=Slovakia's Fico to lead his third government |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/slovakias-fico-to-lead-his-third-government/ |work=www.euractiv.com |date=24 March 2016}}</ref>

Fico resigned as prime minister in March 2018 following the largest street protests in decades over the [[murder of Ján Kuciak]], an investigative journalist who was investigating high-level political corruption linked to the organized crime.<ref>[http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-slovak-pm-robert-ficos-resignation-just-for-show/a-42997420 Opinion: Slovak PM Robert Fico's resignation just for show]. ''Deutsche Welle''. 15 March 2018.</ref> President [[Andrej Kiska]] appointed [[Peter Pellegrini]] to succeed Fico as prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/slovakia-politics/slovak-president-appoints-peter-pellegrini-as-new-prime-minister-idUKP7N1PY002?edition-redirect=uk|title = Slovak president appoints Peter Pellegrini as new prime minister|newspaper = Reuters|date = 22 March 2018}}</ref>

In March 2019, [[Zuzana Čaputová]] was elected as the first female [[president of Slovakia]]. She was a member of the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, which had no seats in parliament.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47756368|title = Zuzana Caputova becomes Slovakia's first female president|work = BBC News|date = 31 March 2019}}</ref>

After the [[2020 Slovak parliamentary election]], the [[Ordinary People and Independent Personalities]] won the election and [[Igor Matovič]] became the prime minister in March 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22364638/matovic-government-appointed.html|title=Slovakia's Ordinary PM takes over amid coronavirus crisis|date=21 March 2020}}</ref> In April 2021, [[Eduard Heger]] was sworn in as prime minister two days after Matovič resigned. Heger was a close ally of Matovic and deputy head of his Ordinary People party.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metro.us/slovak-president-appoints-heger/|title = Slovak president appoints Heger prime minister, ending political crisis - Metro US| date=April 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-30/slovakia-has-new-leader-as-russia-vaccine-feud-ousts-premier |title=Slovakia Has New Leader as Russia Vaccine Feud Ousts Premier |first1=Peter |last1=Laca |first2=Krystof |last2=Chamonikolas |date=30 March 2021 |publisher=Bloomberg |access-date=2022-04-11}}</ref> In May 2023, Heger resigned to be replaced by the Central Bank deputy governor, [[Ľudovít Ódor]], as caretaker prime minister of a technocrat government.<ref>{{cite news |last=Henley |first=Jon |title=Slovakia PM quits and is replaced by caretaker as political crisis deepens |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/08/slovakia-pm-quits-replaced-caretaker-political-crisis-deepens |work=The Guardian |date=8 May 2023}}</ref>

In September 2023, populist left-wing [[Direction – Social Democracy|Smer-SSD]], led by former prime minister Robert Fico, won [[2023 Slovak parliamentary election|the general election]], taking 79 seats in a 150-seat parliament with its allies, the centre-left [[Voice – Social Democracy|Hlas]] and nationalist [[Slovak National Party|SNS]] parties. The three parties agreed to form a coalition government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-10-11 |title=Slovakia elections: Populist winner signs deal to form coalition government |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67085070 |access-date=2023-10-27}}</ref> On 25 October 2023, Robert Fico became prime minister, announcing that the new government will stop Slovakia's military aid to Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-25 |title=What are Slovaks expecting from Robert Fico’s new government? |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/25/what-are-slovaks-expecting-from-robert-ficos-new-government |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=euronews |language=en}}</ref>  At his first EU leaders meeting in Brussels, Fico said that Slovakia will not support further military aid for Ukraine nor support further [[Sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine|sanctions against Russia]] because of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-10-26 |title=Slovakia's Fico will not support more military aid to Ukraine at EU summit -Slovak media |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovakias-fico-will-not-support-more-military-aid-ukraine-eu-summit-slovak-media-2023-10-26/ |access-date=2023-10-27}}</ref> In April 2024, nationalist-left candidate Peter Pellegrini, a close ally of Fico, won [[2024 Slovak presidential election|the presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Peter Pellegrini elected Slovakia president in boost for pro-Russia PM Fico |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/7/pellegrini-elected-slovakia-president-in-boost-for-pro-russia-pm-fico |date=7 April 2024 |work=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>

At the beginning of 2025, Slovakia experienced the worst [[Cyberattack|cyber-attack]] in Slovak history on its land registry system, paralysed for days functioning of towns, municipalities and banks, by not being able to access land registry data.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newsnow.tasr.sk/takac-cyber-attack-on-ugkk-biggest-in-slovak-history/|title=Takac: Cyber-attack on UGKK Biggest in Slovak History|date=10 January 2025|website=The News Agency of the Slovak Republic}}</ref> Minister of Agriculture, [[Richard Takáč]], said that there is suspicion that the attack originated in Ukraine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/slovakia-hit-by-large-scale/|title=Slovakia Hit by Historic Cyber-Attack on Land Registry|date=1 February 2025|website=Infosecurity Magazine}}</ref> In January 2025, large anti-government protests organised by a protest group Mier Ukrajine (Peace to Ukraine) broke out in Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tens of thousands protest in Slovakia against PM Fico |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17ew2lzkyvo |website=[[BBC|bbc]] |access-date=31 January 2025 |language=en}}</ref> On 31 January 2025, the prime minister of Slovakia [[Robert Fico]] together with [[Slovak Information Service]] showed photographs of [[Mamuka Mamulashvili]], the leader of the Ukrainian military unit [[Georgian National Legion]], with opposition activist Lucia Štasselová and online news commentator [[Martin Milan Šimečka]], the father of opposition leader [[Michal Šimečka]]. Fico accused Šimečka and the government opposition of plotting a [[coup d'état]] in the country. <ref>{{cite web |title=Slovakia bans Georgian volunteer, 9 others, from entry as Fico ramps up coup plot accusations|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovakis-bans-georgian-volunteer-9-others-entry-fico-ramps-up-coup-plot-2025-01-31/ |website=[[reuters]] |access-date=31 January 2025 |language=en}}</ref>