The social democratic, left-wing populist, and nationalist Smer-SD, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, emerged as the largest party, winning 42 seats, while the social-liberal and pro-European Progressive Slovakia came in second with 32 seats. Former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini’s social-democratic Hlas-SD, which split from Smer-SD in 2020, came in third with 27 seats, making Pellegrini the presumptive kingmaker in government formation negotiations.
