The Slovak National Party (, SNS) is an ultranationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on what is regards as social and European Christian values.Stručne o SNS.
Since 1990 SNS has won seats in every Slovak parliament but three (in 2002, 2012 and 2020) and was part of the coalition government formed after the 2006 election with Robert Fico's Direction – Social Democracy (Smer-SD). In the 2012 parliamentary election, SNS failed to meet the 5% electoral threshold and thus lost parliamentary representation. At the following party congress in October 2012, the delegates chose lawyer Andrej Danko as the new chairman of the party. Under Danko SNS returned to another coalition government with Smer-SD after the 2016 Slovak parliamentary election. In the next election in 2020, the party again failed to meet the threshold for parliamentary representation. In the next election, SNS again returned in 2023 and once again formed a coalition government with Fico.
History The party was founded in December 1989 and perceives itself as an ideological heir to the historical Slovak National Party. The party declares its three pillars: Christian, national and social. One of the biggest events the SNS has participated in since then was the establishment of an independent Slovakia on 1 January 1993. The SNS has had deputies in the Slovak parliament in the years 1990–2002 and 2006–2012. The party also had deputies in the Slovak government. Marián Andel, Jozef Prokeš, Jaroslav Paška and Ľudovít Černák were in the second Mečiar government (1992–1994), Ján Sitek and Eva Slavkovská in the third Mečiar government (1994–1998) and other deputies were in the government of Robert Fico from 2006 to 2010 (see below).
Between 2001 and 2005 there was a Real Slovak National Party (Pravá slovenská národná strana, PSNS), a party of SNS splinters, which remerged with SNS later. Since 2005, there is also a United Slovak National Party (Zjednotená slovenská národná strana, ZSNS), also formed of former SNS members. In February 2006, PSNS changed its name into the Slovak National Coalition – Slovak Mutuality (Slovenská národná koalícia – Slovenská vzájomnosť). However, only the Slovak National Party is currently relevant.
In 2006, the SNS was the only Slovakian political party, which did not express his disagreement when a 23-year-old ethnic Hungarian girl was kicked and had the message "Hungarians, go back to the other side of the Danube" and "Death to the parasites" written on her t-shirt.
In 2008 a €120 million tender for establishing the rules and guidelines and logos for distribution of funds from the European Union, was won by a consortium of firms with close ties to SNS leader Ján Slota. The tender notice had been posted for only five days on a bulletin board in the ministry run by the SNS party behind a locked door, which resulted in a single bid. Following the scandal, the SNS minister in charge of the contract was fired, and the European Commission has launched an investigation. In 2009 SNS proposed a law to create barriers for women seeking abortion in Slovakia.
Political positions The Slovak National Party (SNS) is an ultranationalist party and typically placed on the far-right of the political spectrum.
The SNS supports economic nationalism and advocates for domestic production and agriculture. While the party has been critical of privatisations, it has advocated tax cuts for small businesses. It opposed an increase in the minimum wage that was proposed by its coalition partners Smer-SD and Hlas-SD, citing its impact on the state budget. Under Slota's leadership in the 1990s, the party had supported a more free market approach than its coalition partner, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia.
During Fico's Fourth Cabinet, SNS Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová removed heads of major cultural institutions for their alleged "political activism", including the directors of the Slovak National Gallery and Slovak National Theatre. She also abolished Radio and Television of Slovakia, the country's national public broadcaster, also citing "political activism".
The party is socially conservative. Danko has advocated a ban on education on gender identity and sexual orientation in Slovak schools.
The party has called for stronger security measures against illegal immigration on EU external borders and has opposed EU asylum quotas.
The SNS has submitted legislation to charge media publications money for information requests and introduce a legal right of correction to media reports that might damage an individual's reputation.
The SNS has also proposed legislation that would subject NGOs receiving over €5,000 a year in foreign funding as "organisations with foreign support" and subject them to increased scrutiny, similar to legislation that had been previously enacted in Hungary.
Foreign policy The Slovak National Party is Eurosceptic. Although the party does not question Slovak membership of NATO, it opposes the presence of a NATO base or logistics centre in Slovakia. It has stated it would not enter into a coalition government with the rival nationalist party, the Republic Movement, if the Republic Movement advocated a referendum on NATO membership. Though the SNS opposed the U.S.-Slovakia Defence Cooperation Agreement during Fico's Third Cabinet, the SNS Defence Minister, Peter Gajdoš, did support the purchase of U.S. fighter jets by Slovakia.
The SNS condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but advocated peace talks between the two sides to resolve the conflict. The party opposes Ukrainian EU membership. The party criticised Fico for his support for United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/7, suggesting that Slovakia should have opposed the resolution in line with Hungary's position.
Danko described Israel as a "strategic partner" of Slovakia and expressed support for relocating Slovakia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during a visit to Israel in 2018. However, Danko opposed the 2024 purchase of Barak MX systems from Israel by Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák on financial grounds.
European affiliations From 1997 to 2002, the SNS was a member of Euronat, an alliance formed by the French National Front (FN).Mareš, 2006, pp. 11-12, 24. From 2002 to 2009, the SNS was a member of the Alliance for Europe of the Nations alliance, alongside Poland's Law and Justice party, the Czech Civic Democratic Party, the Israeli Likud, the Danish People's Party, the Irish Fianna Fáil and the Italian National Alliance. From 2009 to 2014, the SNS was part of Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group in the European Parliament, which was dominated by the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and from 2011 to 2015 with the affiliated Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy, which did not include UKIP but included other EFDD members such as United Poland and the Finns Party. In 2014, the SNS participated in exploratory meetings held by the European Alliance for Freedom regarding the formation of a new European Parliament group, though it ultimately did not win seats at the 2014 European Parliament election. In 2024, the SNS was announced as a new member of the Identity and Democracy Party, though the SNS did not become a member of its successor, Patriots.eu. In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the SNS sits with the European Conservatives, Patriots & Affiliates.
Slota invited Jean-Marie Le Pen, the then-leader of the FN, to visit Slovakia in 1997, after Slota attended a congress held by the FN in Strasbourg. In 2019, Danko distanced himself from the FN's successor, the National Rally (RN), after it formed an alliance with the rival Slovak We Are Family party, suggesting that RN leader Marine Le Pen could break up the EU. Nevertheless, in 2022, Danko praised the possibility of a Le Pen victory in the 2022 French presidential election as positive for Visegrád Group countries.
Since Slota's tenure as SNS leader, the SNS has had a close relationship with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), previously listing it formally as a "partner party". However, disagreements over the Beneš decrees caused a brief rift between the parties, with the SNS supporting the exclusion of the FPÖ from the EFD in 2011. The relationship was later resumed under Danko, with the parties sharing election advice throughout the 2010s.
Danko has advocated for a close partnership with Hungary under Fidesz rule and Poland under the Law and Justice party. He has been described as having close relations with Fidesz politicians.
Election results Czechoslovak Parliament Election Leader Chamber of People Chamber of Nations Government Votes % Seats +/– Position Votes % Seats +/– Position 1990 372,025 3.50 7th 387,387 3.65 5th 1992 290,249 3.03 9th 288,864 3.02 6th
Slovak National Council Election Leader Votes %Rank Seats+/–Government1990Víťazoslav Móric470,98413.9 3rd 221992Jozef Prokeš244,5277.9 4th 7 National Council Election Leader Votes %Rank Seats+/–Government1994Ján Slota155,3595.4 7th 61998304,8399.1 5th 52002Anna Malíková95,6333.3 9th 14 No seats2006Ján Slota270,23011.7 3rd 202010128,4905.1 6th 112012116,4204.6 7th 9 No seats2016Andrej Danko225,3868.6 4th 15 2020 91,1713.2 10th 15 No seats2023166,9955.6 7th 10
Presidential Election Candidate First round Second round Result Votes % Votes % 1999 Ján Slota 73,836 2.50 2004 Vladimír Mečiar 650,242 32.73 722,368 40.08 2009 Ivan Gašparovič 876,061 46.71 1,234,787 55.53 2024 Andrej Danko 1,905 0.08
European Parliament ElectionList leaderVotes %RankSeats+/–EP Group 2004 Unclear 14,150 2.01 9th New – 2009 Dušan Švantner 45,960 5.55 6th 1 EFDD 2014 Unclear 20,244 3.61 10th 1– 2019 Unclear 40,330 4.09 8th 0 2024 Andrej Danko 28,102 1.90 10th 0
2006–2010: In Slovak government SNS entered the current Slovak government after Chairman Ján Slota and Robert Fico agreed to create a coalition government. This created an unusual situation of an alleged far-right party, SNS being accepted and taken as a partner by SMER, a party describing itself as leftist. Three SNS ministers were sworn in on 4 July 2006:
Jaroslav Izák as the minister of the environment. Jaroslav Izák was fired from the Environment Ministry top job in the wake of accusations of cronyism, He was succeeded by Ján Chrbet. Ján Mikolaj as deputy prime minister; minister of education. Marián Janušek as the minister of construction and regional development. Janušek was sacked from the Ministry's top job for "granting lucrative contracts worth €98 million to two firms, Avocat and Zamedia, which are believed to have links to SNS chairman Ján Slota."
Further ministers, delegated by SNS: Ján Chrbet as Minister of Environment, after Izák. His firing was over his responsibility in a mega-scandal involving the sale of the country's excess emission quotas at an extremely low price, below their market value. Viliam Turský as Minister of Environment following Chrbet. Also fired by Fico over a dubious contract he signed with a company. After three SNS Ministers were fired from the same ministry, Fico took away control of the ministry from SNS.
The coalition agreement between Smer-SD and SNS resulted in the suspension of Smer-SD from the Party of European Socialists (PES). The PES considered SNS a "political party which incites or attempts to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred."SMER suspended from PES political family , Party of European Socialists, 12 October 2006 However, in 2008 Smer's membership suspension ended with no further PES's demands regarding SNS.
2016 election In the 2016 Slovak parliamentary election, the Slovak National Party won 8.64% of the vote, and joined Fico's Third Cabinet on 22 March.
Controversy