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Fico was in a serious but stable condition on Thursday, a hospital official said, after the populist leader was stabbed multiple times in an assassination attempt that rocked the small country and reverberated across the continent weeks before European elections.
The assassination attempt shocked the small central European nation, with many blaming the attack in part on the extreme political polarization that has divided the country.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said on Wednesday that an initial investigation had found a “clear political motivation” behind the attack on Fitzo as he attended a government meeting in the former coal-mining town.
However, he said Thursday that the suspect is a lone wolf who “does not belong to any political groups.”
The minister did not specify what the motivation was.
Fico has long been a controversial figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year with a pro-Russian, anti-American message has fueled even greater concerns among other European Union members that he will abandon his country’s pro-Western course.
The assassination attempt on Fico came at a time of great division in Slovakia, as thousands of demonstrators gathered repeatedly in the capital and across the country to protest his policies.
It also comes just before the European Parliament elections in June.
Slovakia’s outgoing and incoming presidents – political rivals – appeared together in an appeal to Slovaks to overcome their increasingly tense political differences for the good of the country.
Outgoing President Zuzana Chaputova, an opponent of Fico, said Thursday that the country’s political party leaders would meet in an attempt to bring calm, saying the attack was a reflection of an increasingly polarized society.
“Let’s get out of the vicious circle of hatred and mutual accusations,” Chaputova said at a press conference in the capital, Bratislava.
“What happened yesterday was an individual act. But the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective doing.
President-elect Peter Pellegrini has called on political parties to suspend or scale back their campaigns for the June 6-9 European elections to prevent “opposition and mutual recriminations between politicians”.
“If there is one thing that the people of Slovakia urgently need today, it is at least basic agreement and unity among Slovak political representation. And if not consensus, then please, at least civilized ways of discussing with each other,” Pelligrini said.
Fico’s government, elected last September, sparked controversy by halting arms supplies to Ukraine and has plans to amend the criminal code to eliminate a special anti-bribery prosecutor and take control of public media.
His critics worry that he will lead Slovakia – a nation of 5.4 million that belongs to NATO – down a more autocratic path.
Zuzana Eliasova, a resident of the capital Bratislava, said the attack on Fico was a “shock” to the nation and an attack on democracy at a time when political tensions are already high.
“I believe that a lot of people or even the whole society will look at their conscience because the polarization here is huge among all different parts of society,” she said.
Doctors performed a five-hour operation on Fico, who was initially reported to be in a life-threatening condition, according to the director of the FD Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Miriam Lapunikova.
He is being treated in the intensive care unit.
Five shots were fired outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers northeast of the capital, government officials said.
Slovak police have not released information about the shooter’s identity.
But unconfirmed media reports suggest he is a 71-year-old retiree known as an amateur poet and may have previously worked as a security guard at a shopping mall in the country’s southwest.
Slovakia’s Security Council was due to meet in the capital Bratislava on Thursday to discuss the situation, a government office said, adding that a cabinet meeting would follow.
Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year after previously serving as prime minister twice.
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He and his Smer party are most often described as left-wing populists, although he has also been compared to right-wing politicians such as neighboring Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Fico’s return has sparked concern among his critics that he and his party – which has long been tainted by scandal – will lead Slovakia away from the western mainstream.
He pledged a tough stance against migration and NGOs and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.
Despite the controversy surrounding Fizzo’s leadership, condemnation of the attack came from both his allies and opponents.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to President Chaputov expressing his support and wishing the prime minister a speedy and full recovery.
“This heinous crime cannot be justified,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.
“I know Robert Fico as a brave and strong-willed man. I really hope these personal qualities help him overcome this difficult situation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also condemned the violence against the head of the government of a neighboring country.
“Every effort must be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, shape or sphere,” he said.
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