Return of Illiberalism: The Results of the 2023 General Election in Slovakia

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After a general overview of the context of the 2023 general election in Slova- kia, the article provides a detailed analysis of the electoral results and support for political parties. Using both aggregate and individual level data, we show that the results were influenced by a combination of long-term features defin- ing electoral support and voting behaviour in Slovakia and a more recent trend including weaker ideological attachment and the increased importance of leadership personality for political party preference. Also, it seems that the illib- eral mobilization may be traced in the dynamic of electoral shifts in the context of different behaviour of various societal groups. Moreover, the return of illib- eral actors to power in Slovakia seems to have been characterized by a surge of votes for conservative or populist left-wing forces in the larger Slovak cities. Although this is not reflected in the turnout, at the individual level we can as- sume that liberal voters turned out in smaller numbers, while Smer voters may have been more mobilized, or some voters may have switched from other po- pulist parties such as OĽaNO