TOPOLCANY, Slovakia (Reuters) - Slovakia’s far right leader began the year on trial on charges of spreading hate but could end up as kingmaker in a tight parliamentary election next week, adding to nationalist challenges confronting the European Union.

Marian Kotleba, leader of the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), speaks during an election campaign rally in Topolcany, Slovakia, February 12, 2020. Picture taken February 12, 2020. REUTERS/David W Cerny

Slovaks vote on Feb. 29 and Marian Kotleba’s party hopes to surge to a second-place finish behind the incumbent center-left Smer, which has been weakened by corruption scandals and the politically charged murder of an investigative journalist.

With two small parties now in the ruling coalition at risk of failing to clear the 5% threshold of votes required for parliamentary seats, Smer may be forced to resort to an at least informal deal with the far right to avoid losing power.

Kotleba’s People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) wants out of the U.S.-led NATO alliance and is deeply critical of the EU, accusing it of forcing Slovakia to put liberal, sharing-of-sovereignty values above its own national interest.

A swing toward nationalism could shift euro zone member Slovakia closer to central European neighbors Hungary and Poland, both at odds with Brussels for undermining democracy and rule of law standards, just as EU leaders seek ways to shore up the 27-nation bloc after Britain’s damaging departure.

All parties including Smer have publicly ruled out any tie-up with the LSNS. But analysts say that if the election strips Smer of coalition partners, leaving a hung parliament, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini’s party could have little other choice.

“In Slovakia, politicians tend to speak of responsibility for the country’s stability and determination to avoid chaos and repeated elections. That is why we cannot rule out a government of Smer, or its more radical faction at least, with LSNS and outside support by a third party,” said political scientist Matus Sloboda. “Let’s not forget that a similar scenario - a government with the far right - transpired in Austria.”

Kotleba, 42, a former high school IT teacher, distilled his party’s “Slovakia first” pitch at an election rally last week.

“Isn’t it time for us to straighten our crouched backs and say ‘enough’, say that the government should first care for the needs of its citizens and not what Brussels, Washington or non-governmental organizations want?” he told hundreds of followers in Topolcany, a town northeast of the capital Bratislava.

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“For me, and that is why I came today and I will likely vote for him, the most important thing is that (Kotleba) promised to implant order,” said Viktor Denko, a LSNS supporter.

The LSNS took 8%, good for fifth place, in the 2016 election and recently soared to just shy of 14% in polls, about 3% behind Smer, before dipping slightly.

RESPECT FOR WARTIME NAZI PUPPET REGIME

Kotleba’s party has voiced respect in the past for Slovakia’s World War Two Nazi puppet regime whose leader, Jozef Tiso, helped tens of thousands of Slovak Jews to be deported to Nazi death camps and was later tried for treason.

But it has recently muted such views to deflect accusations of fascist inclinations. Instead, the LSNS is emphasizing pledges to toughen law and order and defend “decent Slovaks” against what it sees as the EU-driven evils of immigration and excesses of liberalism undermining traditional family values.

The LSNS has dropped demands for Slovakia to quit the EU but pledges to put Slovak interests “above the dictate of Brussels”. It says it is the only party untainted by corruption, which has reduced Smer’s popularity to under 17% from 25% two years ago.

The far right has benefited markedly from mounting discontent over high-level corruption after the 2018 murder of the investigative journalist revealed a web of connections between businessmen and the political establishment.

COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION

The rally drew a counter-demonstration by dozens of liberal protesters, some carrying banners with crossed-out swastikas.

“They have no solutions, they are attacking certain groups, minorities, they make their stand against the weakest instead of offering some alternative,” protester Branislav Vanco said.

Last year prosecutors sought to have the LSNS dissolved for what they said were fascist tendencies. But the Supreme Court dismissed the motion, saying there was insufficient evidence of a threat to dismantle Slovakia’s democracy.

Kotleba, who has referred to Slovakia’s Roma minority as “parasites”, faces a 4-8 years in prison if convicted on charges of backing calls for suppressing individual freedoms on racial and religious grounds.

Prosecutors base their case on recent LSNS cash handouts to poor families each worth 1,488 euros ($1,606.74), a number used by extremists to represent white supremacism and a Nazi salute.

The next hearing in his trial has been postponed to March 4, just after the election. Two LSNS lawmakers have also been charged over hate speeches against Roma, Jews and Islam.