A 71-year-old suspect has been arrested following the shooting, which took place in broad daylight as Robert Fico was visiting the town of Handlova.
Slovakia’s prime minister remains in a very serious condition because of how “complicated” his gunshot injuries are, the country’s defence minister says.
PM Robert Fico was shot several times in an attempted assassination yesterday.
Doctors spent the night “fighting for his life”, defence minister Robert Kalinak said.
At least four shots were fired outside a cultural centre in the town of Handlova, around 85 miles northeast of the capital Bratislava, where the 59-year-old was meeting supporters, the government said.
A 71-year-old suspect is in custody, but the motive for the shooting is still unclear.
According to a message on Fico’s Facebook account, it took too long to get to Bratislava, so he was taken to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, 27 kilometers from Handlova.
The attack comes amid an intensification of political campaigning three weeks before pan-European elections to elect members of the European Parliament.
Fico’s return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American vote has raised concerns among other EU and NATO countries that he is pushing his country further away from the Western mainstream. caused concern.
Under his leadership, the government has halted arms sales to Ukraine, and opponents fear he will lead Slovakia after Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. .
Thousands of people have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.
There are growing concerns that populists and nationalists like Mr Fico could profit from the 27-nation bloc.
Zuzana Caputova, the outgoing president and Fico’s political rival, said in a statement: “The physical attack on the Prime Minister is first of all an attack on the individual, but also an attack on democracy.”
“Violence of any kind is unacceptable. Hateful rhetoric in society leads to hateful actions. Please stop this.”
Peter, an ally of the new Prime Minister. President-elect Pellegrini called the shooting an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.”
“Expressing a different political opinion with a gun in the square instead of at the polling station puts at risk everything we have built together during the 31 years of Slovakia’s sovereignty.”
Joe・Biden said he was alarmed, adding that the United States “condemns this.” A terrible act of violence. ”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X that he was “shocked and appalled” by the attack on Fico.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “despicable attack”.
Fico, who became prime minister for the third time, and his left-wing party Smer, or Direction, won parliamentary elections in Slovakia in September.
But after the shooting, politics was put aside and the Slovak parliament’s session was postponed until further notice.
