(Reuters) -The likelihood of Slovakia's next government being led by former premier Robert Fico, who wants to halt Slovak military support for Ukraine, increased on Tuesday when the leader of the leftist HLAS party said he would only consider a coalition with Fico.
HLAS holds the key to the formation of a new coalition government following an election on Sept. 30 in which Fico's SMER-SSD party emerged as the largest party but short of a majority. Fico is also opposed to Western sanctions on Russia.
HLAS leader Peter Pellegrini said he favoured a coalition with Fico's party and the pro-Russian far-right SNS party over an alternative four-party coalition with conservative and liberal parties that have pledged to stay the current course on Ukraine and have more positive views on more EU integration.
"I am convinced that it will be most possible within this three-strong coalition (with SMER-SSD and SNS) to realise our social democratic policy and push through most of our programme," Pellegrini told a news conference broadcast on the party's Facebook (NASDAQ:META) account.
He said HLAS, which analysts see as more moderate than SMER-SSD, would guarantee foreign policy continuity in Slovakia, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO.
"If the government were to... change foreign policy orientation, HLAS would stop being part of such a government," he said.
Analysts have suggested that HLAS would tame any foreign policy turns by Fico, who had a record of being pragmatic during his past three stints as Slovakia's prime minister.
The change of guard in Slovakia has increased concerns in Ukraine that Europeans' military and financial support for its efforts to resist Russia's invasion, now in its 20th month, may be slowly weakening.
HLAS ended third in the election behind SMER-SD and the liberal Progresivne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia, or PS), but the result meant it can be kingmaker in the post-election coalition negotiations.
Pellegrini, who himself led a SMER-SSD government in 2018-2020, turned down an offer from PS to be prime minister in a PS-led coalition. Pellegrini's HLAS peeled off from SMER-SSD in 2020, but the two grew closer before the election.