Politics

A Slovakian Strongman Is Poised for an Electoral Comeback

Former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who resigned in 2018 amid protests over a journalist’s murder, is still the country’s most powerful politician.

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By Andrea Dudik and Radoslav Tomek

December 19, 2019 at 5:01 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the December 23, 2019 issue of businessweek.

The candles still burn in front of the photograph of the happy couple, though the flowers surrounding it are wilting as winter takes hold in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava. Passersby barely seem to notice the makeshift shrine off the main square anymore.

The murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, almost two years ago sparked the country’s biggest street protests in decades against corruption and cronyism and forced the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico.