Activists Eye Election to ‘Make Slovakia Decent Again’

And in February, Slovaks will commemorate the second anniversary of the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak's and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, whose deaths in 2018 sparked protests comparable to those of the Velvet Revolution.

Progressive parties will be keen to extract political capital from the memory of both mass movements. If the first ushered in democracy, the second sought to defend it from the corrosive effects of corruption, cronyism and organised crime.

No initiative did more to bring tens of thousands onto the streets in 2018 than For a Decent Slovakia, the self-styled people's movement that led calls for a "return to decency" in public life.

With parliamentary polls due before March 2020, election watchers believe For a Decent Slovakia could play an important role in influencing the outcome, though much may depend on how it navigates between grassroots activism and mainstream politics.

Parties on all sides will be watching closely.

"One of our two demands was a new, trustworthy government," said Eva Lavrikova, spokeswoman of For a Decent Slovakia, blaming the government of former Prime Minister Robert Fico for a culture of impunity that allowed Kuciak's murder.

The movement's other demand was a proper investigation into Kuciak's slaying as well as all the cases he was writing about.

Kuciak had been probing the shady dealings of businessmen with ties to top politicians in a country described by For a Decent Slovakia as a "mafia state".

While the mass demonstrations forced Fico to resign as prime minister last March, he still leads the ruling SMER-SD party. 

Lavrikova said a new government was needed more than ever now that police investigations had exposed alleged ties between the man accused of being...