Presidential Campaign Gets Ugly on Fico’s Accusations

In the second round of the presidential elections between current Prime Minister Robert Fico and self-made businessman Andrej Kiska, Robert Fico has opted for the tactic of trying to undermine Kiska by attacking him and his businesses, and spreading rumours, instead of promoting and comparing their policies.

Fico openly accused Kiska of being involved with Scientology, with smear leaflets against Kiska also being distributed before the first round. Suspiciously, the leaflets were distributed by the same company that distributed Fico’s promotional ones, according to a report in SME daily today.

The daily got hold of documents anonymously showing that the distribution of both leaflets was ordered by a company called GS Servis, which denies distributing the smear leaflets. The printing company Cromwell denies the claim, adding that the information is subject to corporate secrecy.

Kiska, who got 24% in the first round against Fico’s 28%, came out on television to put an end to the rumours about his connection with Scientology and so on, pointing to how sad it was that the PM was employing smear tactics instead of debating about the future of the country and its people.

Ironically, both government led by PM Fico approved funding of hundreds of thousands of euros for a company run by a self-proclaimed Scientologist, Michal Homza, reports Hospodarske Noviny. Robert Fico’s spokeswoman said there was nothing wrong with providing state assistance to the company.