Where Slovakia's parties agree

For every party and every statement, the test holds a position on a scale from one to five. With 42 statements in the main test and twelve parties, there are 504 of them. Looked at statement by statement rather than party by party, they draw a different map: where Slovak politics has common ground and where it has none.

The measure is simple. For each statement we take the highest and the lowest position among the twelve parties and subtract one from the other (our calculation). A gap of zero would mean every party holds exactly the same view. A gap of four means one party is "strongly in favour" and another "strongly against".

How the gaps are distributed

On 26 of the 42 statements, there is at least one party at each end of the scale. That is more than half the test. No statement has a gap of zero or one, and on every statement at least one party is in favour and at least one against.

The only statement with a gap of two is "People who are able to work should lose social benefits if they turn down a job or training." No party is at either end of the scale: seven are in favour, three in between, and PS and Hnutie Slovensko against. Three of these positions, however, are estimated.

Where a large majority agrees

There is no full agreement anywhere, but on seven statements at least nine of the twelve parties are on the same side. Five of them concern the European Union or its rules:

• "The EU should be able to decide foreign policy by majority vote, without any single country having a veto." Eleven parties are against, seven of them strongly. Only PS is in favour, and not strongly.
• "If the EU does not change fundamentally, Slovakia should hold a referendum on whether to stay in it." Eleven parties are against; only Republika, which proposes it in its manifesto, is in favour.
• "Sales of new petrol and diesel cars should be banned from 2035." Eleven parties are against; only PS is in favour.
• "Same-sex couples should be able to register their partnership legally." Ten parties are against (Právo na pravdu's position is estimated); PS and SaS are in favour.
• "Ethical issues such as marriage or adoption should be decided only by each country, not by the EU." Nine parties are in favour; PS, SaS and Demokrati are against.
• "The state should hold a majority stake in large energy companies." Nine parties are in favour; PS, SaS and the Hungarian Alliance (estimated) are against.
• "The EU should be able to freeze EU funds for countries that do not respect the rule of law." Nine parties are against (two of these positions are estimated); PS, Hnutie Slovensko and Demokrati are in favour.

On the first three and on the statement on ethical issues every position is backed by a source; none is estimated. On five more statements eight parties are on the same side: cutting the deficit through spending cuts rather than tax rises (in favour), capping retail chains' margins (in favour), leaving NATO (against), a single public health insurer (against) and paying extra for above-standard healthcare (in favour). On the last of these, every documented position is in favour; the only three against are estimated.

Where the parties split into two camps

At the other end are the statements on which five or more parties stand on each side:

• "Non-governmental organisations funded from abroad should be subject to stricter state oversight." Six parties in favour (Smer, Hlas, the SNS, Republika and Právo na pravdu strongly, Sme rodina by estimate), six against (PS, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH, SaS and Demokrati strongly, the Hungarian Alliance against). It is the most polarised statement in the test: ten parties are at one end of the scale or the other.
• "Slovakia should re-establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor to fight corruption." Six in favour (PS, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH, SaS, the Hungarian Alliance, Demokrati), five against (Smer, Hlas, the SNS, Republika and Právo na pravdu by estimate), Sme rodina in between (estimated).
• "Slovakia should resume sending state military aid to Ukraine." Five in favour (PS, Hnutie Slovensko, SaS, Demokrati, Sme rodina), six against (Smer, Hlas, the SNS, Republika, the Hungarian Alliance, Právo na pravdu), KDH in between.
• "The state should cap electricity and gas prices by law for all households, not only for those on lower incomes." Seven in favour (Smer, Hlas, Hnutie Slovensko, the SNS, Republika, the Hungarian Alliance, Právo na pravdu), five against (PS, KDH, SaS, Demokrati, Sme rodina). Here Hnutie Slovensko and the Hungarian Alliance side with the governing parties.
• "Slovakia should increase defence spending to meet NATO's new target." Seven in favour, five against: Smer, Hlas, the SNS, Republika and Právo na pravdu.

Government and opposition

On seven statements, all three governing parties (Smer, Hlas, the SNS) are on one side and all four opposition parties with MPs in the National Council (PS, Hnutie Slovensko, KDH, SaS) on the other. Four of them concern the rule of law: the Special Prosecutor's Office, Section 363, NGOs and how the management of the public broadcaster STVR is chosen. The other three are a retirement age linked to life expectancy, defence spending and using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine (on the last two, Hnutie Slovensko's position is estimated).

By topic

The topic on which the parties disagree most is rule of law and democracy: all five statements have a gap of four. Next comes Ukraine and Russia, with four out of six. On the European Union, two of the three statements have a gap of four, yet all three have at least nine parties on one side: the majority agrees, and the minority holds the opposite view firmly.

Who is close to whom

The same data also shows which parties are closest to each other and which are furthest apart. The table shows the three closest and the three most distant of the 66 pairs of parties (by average gap across all 42 statements):

The closest are Smer and Hlas, which govern together: the same position on 25 statements, and never more than two points apart. The closest pair in opposition is SaS and Demokrati (19 identical positions, average gap 0.69). The furthest apart are SaS and Republika, and PS and Republika: at least three points apart on 30 of the 42 statements.

What this means for the test

A statement on which every party agrees does not help to tell them apart: whoever answers it gets the same score with all of them. What separates the parties are the 26 statements with a gap of four. That is why they are in the test, and why it is worth answering them even when it is hard to decide.

It also explains a common feeling at the end of the test: if your result gives several parties similar percentages, you probably agree with them on the few issues they share and stay in the middle on the ones that divide them. When the result is a tie, the test offers up to eight extra statements: the ones that best separate the tied parties.

A note on the data

All 42 statements have twelve positions, one per party. Not all of them are equally solid: 65 of the 504 positions are not based on a specific document and are marked as estimated; Právo na pravdu (14), Sme rodina (13) and the Hungarian Alliance (11) have the most. They count in the gaps like the others, but in the majorities above we say when any of the positions is estimated. Each party's page shows which of its positions are documented and which are estimated. The 21 extra tie-break statements, which the test asks only when the result is close, are not included here.

Who the parties are and where they sit on the political compass is described in "Slovakia's political parties explained". All positions side by side are in the party comparison, and you can compare them with your own views when you take the test.