NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

Figure 4 – Election Results (2002) Distribution of votes Political Group Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) Slovak Democratic Coalition and Christian Union (SKDU)

%

19.50

15.09

SMER

13.46

Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK)

11.16

Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) Alliance for the New Citizens (ANO)

8.25

8.01

Slovak Communist Party (KSS) 6.33 Source: Inter-parliamentary Union, www.ipu.org.

5.2.3. Media discourse (2002) This section is based on an insight into the media discourse, as presented by the Pravda daily. The year 2002 was a crucial one from the point of view of the ambitions of Slovakia to become a EU member, which was also obvious in the media discourse. In fact, the integration process with the EU did not have any serious opponents in Slovakia. Even though all the political parties highlighted their unique role in improving the national consciousness and self-confidence of Slovaks, they wanted to do so within the framework of the enlarged EU. While critical attitudes towards the EU were almost missing in the Slovak political discourse, the opposite was true in the case of attitudes towards the USA. Some of the Slovak political leaders, especially from the left side of the political spectrum, perceived the performance of the USA on the global scene negatively. One of the most frequently discussed issues became the military operation in Iraq, which was led by the United States. The attitudinal split only proved the existence of anti-American feelings held by some representatives of the political parties. The economic policy of the first Dzurinda government, accompanied by the accelerated process, became another symbolic thorn in the eyes of the

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