Tag Archives: Politics

The Slovak prime minister Fico against accused the OĽaNO opposition party of Matovič to have bought the votes of Roma in the settlements. The combination of the physical presence of the candidates of the OĽaNO Pačivale Roma platform (honest/responsible Roma) directly in Roma communities, extremely effective electoral mobilization, and thoughtful and believable communication on social networks caused the formation of a disciplined mass of Roma voters, who in the tens of thousands voted for one political party – the then OĽaNO movement, now Slovakia.

The new Roma MPs have now a difficult task ahead of them.

• Zástupcovia Rómov v parlamente. Ako dostať Pačivale Roma z pasce demokratickej politiky. In: Postoj. 22.01.2024. https://www.postoj.sk/145713/ako-dostat-pacivale-roma-z-pasce-demokratickej-politiky

Members of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic for the Slovakia movement Peter Pollák Jr., Lukáš Bužo and MEP Peter Pollák Sr. reject the accusations of the Union of Roma in Slovakia that they deceived the Roma before the elections in connection with a 500-euro allowance for participating in the elections.

• Poslanci za hnutie Slovensko sa ohradzujú voči tvrdeniam Únie Rómov, že ich oklamali. In: SME Korzar. 18.12.2023. https://presov.korzar.sme.sk/c/23258424/poslanci-za-hnutie-slovensko-sa-ohradzuju-voci-tvrdeniam-unie-romov-ze-ich-oklamali.html

The OĽaNO party promised in its Agreement with Slovakia that “we will pay a reward of 500 euros in cash to all honest people who come to vote on September 30, 2023”. This is how the representatives of the Pačivale Roma movement also presented it at pre-election meetings in the settlements, and people flocked to them.

According to the article, the prospect of a financial reward for participating in the elections was a very strong. So strong that in many settlements they voted en masse for OĽaNO. In some of them, they even got up to 90 percent of the votes.

Well, this is not proven, but the Union of Roma in Slovakia, as this was not paid,  therefore filed a criminal complaint against Igor Matovič and the Pollákovs last week.

• Ako Matovič oklamal Rómov. In: Pavda. 17.12.2023. https://nazory.pravda.sk/komentare-a-glosy/clanok/692372-ako-matovic-oklamal-romov/

The Union of Roma in Slovakia filed a criminal complaint in connection with a 500-euro payment promised for voting for Matovič and Pollák party. According to the chairman of the civic association František Tanko, Roma were deceived.

“These days, a number of residents of Roma settlements contacted us with a problem that is a consequence of the promises of Matovič and the Pollák family of deputies. It is a promise that if they vote for them in the elections, they will receive 500 euros. People who believed them borrowed money from loan sharks and are now in big personal trouble. Matovič and the Pollákovs grossly deliberately deceived and abused the poor Roma. They knew that they could not accurately understand their misleading promises and that they would get their votes in the vision of quick and easy funding,” said Tanko.

• Únia Rómov podala trestné oznámenie pre 500-eurovú odmenu, ktorú voličom sľúbil Igor Matovič. In: Aktuality. 14.12.2023. https://www.aktuality.sk/clanok/b92ou87/unia-romov-podala-trestne-oznamenie-pre-500-eurovu-odmenu-ktoru-volicom-slubil-igor-matovic/
• Únia Rómov na Slovensku podala trestné oznámenie v súvislosti s 500-eurovým príspevkom. In: Dennik N. 14.12.2023. https://dennikn.sk/minuta/3730347/
• Matovič a Pollákovci podľa Únie Rómov oklamali chudobných Rómov. In: SME. 14.12.2023. https://domov.sme.sk/c/23256924/matovic-a-pollakovci-podla-unie-romov-oklamali-chudobnych-romov.html?ref=terazbox_sme

In the new composition of the Parliament of Slovakia, out of 150 representatives, as many as six are Roma. And not by some kind of key, but as elected representatives. Many Roma voted for the the party called “Ordinary people and independent personalities” (OľaNO) led by Igor Matovič, which is at the end, with 9% of votes won became the fourth largest party in the Slovak parliament. In some places with a majority Roma population, Matovic’s alliance achieved election results that were suspicious even to the police: while other parties got two or three percent each, OLaNO collected over 90% of the votes.

• Romi otkrivaju svoju političku moć u Slovačkoj. In: Deutsche Welle. 22.10.2023. https://www.dw.com/hr/romi-otkrivaju-svoju-političku-moć-u-slovačkoj/a-67145428

The big surprise of the last elections in Slovakia was the re-emergence of the OĽaNO party, which took almost all localities in Eastern Slovakia with a large Roma minority.

Electoral fraud was immediately suspected. But no concrete cases were found so far. The explanation of this success was presented by Igor Matovič, the party head, together with Peter Pollák, a Roma representative of this party. They said that it was the fear of the populist (and anti-Roma) Fico who drove Roma to vote en masse for OĽaNO.

• Rómske hlasy: OĽaNO vo voľbách využilo skôr zavádzanie ako volebnú korupciu. In: Štandart. 05.10.2023. https://standard.sk/458316/romske-hlasy-olano-vo-volbach-vyuzilo-skor-zavadzanie-ako-volebnu-korupciu