With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country's support for Ukraine

Slovaks have been voting in a knife-edge parliamentary election on Saturday that could radically reshape Slovakia's approach to Ukraine and create deep rifts within NATO and the European Union.

The frontrunner, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has made no secret of his affinity for the Kremlin during the election campaign. He has criticized the West for supporting Ukraine and adopted a strong anti-US message, even accusing Slovakia's President Zuzana Čaputová of being an "American agent." He has said that if elected, he would stop sending weapons to Ukraine and block Ukraine's NATO ambitions.

On election day, Fico accompanied his mother to the polls in the capital, Bratislava. He told reporters that he wants to see that Slovakia "not be run by amateurs and bums without experience. So they won't drag us into adventures, whether it's migration or military."

Fico's left-wing populist SMER party has been leading for months, although opinion polls published earlier this week showed SMER neck-and-neck with the Progressive Slovakia (PS) party.

The liberal PS party, led by the EU Parliament Vice-President Michal Šimečka, is pushing for a completely different future for Slovakia - one that includes a continued strong support for Kyiv and strong links with the West.

"Whatever happens in this election, whatever government comes out of this election, we will continue to support Ukraine," Šimečka told reporters outside a polling station.

Experts said that misinformation and Russian propaganda have become prominent during the election campaign, with social media companies criticized for not doing enough to stop it.