‘In vengeful mode’

In December the prime minister described the special prosecutor’s office as “evil”.

“He was in a vengeful mode and got rid of an institution that was going after his cronies, that was very critical of all the crooks and criminals,” said Samuel Abraham, a political analyst in Slovakia.

The shooting of the prime minister comes against a backdrop of partisan, deeply divided politics, which was evident during the parliamentary elections in the autumn and the more recent presidential election last month.

The presidential contest was won by Peter Pellegrini, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2020 after his ally Mr Fico was toppled.

Mr Pellegrini called his opponent, Ivan Korcok, a pro-Western diplomat a “warmonger” because of his support for Ukraine against Russia.

Conceding defeat, an embittered Mr Korcok said: “It turns out that it is possible to become the president of the Slovak Republic by spreading hatred.” He said he had been unfairly characterised as a “war candidate”.

It is in the context of this heated political atmosphere that the prime minister was shot multiple times in a town 85 miles outside Bratislava in a suspected assassination attempt.

“The recent political campaigns have been full of hatred and division. Sooner or later someone with a gun, perhaps some kind of weirdo, was going to pull the trigger. You reap what you sow,” said Mr Abraham.