A Victory in Bratislava

Slovakia's move up to the highest level of democracy recognized by Freedom House's survey is testimony to two things. First, it reflects the willingness of people with very different political views to join together in a coalition opposing authoritarianism. Secondly, it demonstrates how the inducements of prosperity and prestige that Free World alliances command are able to persuade citizens living under authoritarianism to form such coalitions. One might wish that an oppressed people did not need such inducements, that the inducement of liberty was itself sufficient, but that is rarely the case.

Slovakia became an independent state following the collapse of the USSR's system of East European satellites in 1989 and the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. In the years following, Slovakia was politically dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). In July 1997, NATO's Madrid Summit offered membership to three East European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Slovakia, no longer tied to Czech lands, was excluded—clearly because of Meciar's authoritarianism. In December 1997, the European Union's Luxembourg Summit offered new memberships to six countries: the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. Again, the reason for Slovakia's exclusion from this broader group was perfectly evident. Just days before the summit, according to a report by the Czech News Agency, Britain's foreign minister said that the Slovak people "held their own fate in their hands, adding that if Slovakia managed to implement [the necessary] political changes it would become a member state. . . . However, if the Slovak government failed to implement the changes, which were only a matter of political decision and goodwill, the country would not be able to enter the union."

The following spring, Slovakia's opposition coalition—the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK)—began forming closer ties among its member parties in preparation for the fall's parliamentary election. It was an unlikely coalition, ranging from classical liberals to Christian democrats to Greens, but it was united (so the Associated Press reported) by a "dislike of the authoritarian politics of 'Meciarism.'" During the election, AP continued, "opposition leaders [said] they would steer the nation on a vastly different course, embracing the free-market and democratic reforms needed to gain Slovakia entry into Western institutions."

In the end, voters overwhelming rejected Meciar, and his party won only 57 out of 150 seats. Still, it was the most number of seats won by any individual party (which the coalition was not), and Meciar thus had first crack at forming a government. When he failed to attract enough coalition partners, the call went to the SKD's leader, Christian Democrat Mikula Dzurinda, who easily succeeded in putting together a majority and became prime minister on October 30.

On January 14, 1999, the ruling coalition was able to muster the 60 percent majority needed to change the consititution and institute direct presidential elections, which Meciar had opposed. Previously, the president was elected by parliament and had to get a three-fifths majority. As it happened, when the term of President Michal Kovac ended in March 1998, no one could get the votes necessary to become president and Meciar's cabinet assumed most presidential powers. With the direct election of a president, such a combination of presidential and prime ministerial power would henceforth be impossible.

Also in 1999, according to Freedom House, the Slovak government began investigating Meciar-era corruption and parliament waived immunity guarantees for government officials. Gustav Kracji, the former interior minister, was indicted for forging ballots in a 1997 referendum. In April, a secret service agent confessed to participating in the 1995 kidnapping of the son of Michael Kovac, a former president and Meciar opponent.

In May 1999, the government-supported candidate, Rudolph Schuster, defeated Meciar in a runoff presidential election, getting 57 percent of the vote to Meciar's 42, and apparently putting paid to Meciar's long-running dominance of Slovakia. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe found that the elections had been fair and media coverage balanced.