• Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and gravely wounded on May 15. 

• The gunman shot Fico, 59, five times, initially leaving the Prime Minister in critical condition and undergoing surgery hours later.

• The PM had been greeting supporters at an event when the attempted assassination took place.

• Shots were fired outside a cultural centre in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers northeast of capital Bratislava.

• The attack comes as political campaigning heats up three weeks ahead of Europe-wide elections to choose lawmakers for the European Parliament. 

• Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden joined Slovakia’s EU partners in expressing shock and condemnation of the shooting.

A dominant force in Slovakia for two decades

• Robert Fico was born on September 15, 1964 in what was then Czechoslovakia.

• A lawyer by profession, Fico began his political career with the Communist party shortly before the 1989 Velvet Revolution that led to the breakup of former Czechoslovakia.

• He was first elected to Slovakia’s Parliament in 1992 as a member of the Party of the Democratic Left.

• He served for several years in the 1990s as a governmental agent representing the Slovak Republic before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights. 

• In 1999, he became chairman of the Smer (Direction) party, of which he has been a pivotal figure ever since.

• In 2006, Smer won a landslide victory, catapulting Fico into the Prime Minister’s seat.

• After the 2010 parliamentary election, Fico served as an opposition member of parliament.

• He scored another landslide in 2012 after the fall of a centre-right coalition over corruption allegations, and won again in 2016. He resigned two years later amid mass protests over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancee. 

• In October 2023, Fico formed a coalition government with Voice–Social Democracy (Hlas) and the Slovak National Party, beginning another term as Prime Minister.

• Fico, a dominant force in Slovakia for two decades, has drawn criticism for taking a more pro-Russian stance in the Ukraine war.

• His return to power in 2023 on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would lead his country further from the Western mainstream.

• In his career, Fico has moved between the pro-European mainstream and nationalistic positions opposed to EU and US policies. He has also shown a willingness to change course depending on public opinion or changed political realities.

• An admirer of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Fico has grown increasingly critical of Western support for Ukraine in its war with invading Russian forces.

• His government halted arms deliveries to Ukraine, and critics worry that he will lead Slovakia to abandon its pro-Western course and follow in the footsteps of Hungary.

• Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.

• The country of 5.4 million has seen polarised political debate in recent years, including the hard-fought Presidential election last month that helped tighten Fico’s grip on power.

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