Slovakia election: Anti-migrant PM seeks third term

Slovaks have begun voting in general elections expected to see Prime Minister Robert Fico handed a third-term on the back of hardline anti-migrant views. Ahead of the poll, Mr Fico had pledged he would not accept "one single Muslim" migrant to largely Christian Slovakia due to security concerns.

Mr Fico has campaigned on the slogan: 'We protect Slovakia'

His government's tough views echo those of Polish, Czech and Hungarian leaders. Slovakia will take over the European Union's rotating presidency in July. Opinion polls suggest that the ruling Smer-Social Democracy party is likely to lose the parliamentary majority that it won in 2012, Reuters news agency reports.

Robert Fico's anti-migrant rhetoric
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Nurses and teachers have recently held strikes calling for higher wages, highlighting simmering discontent in some sectors despite strong economic growth. But Mr Fico's anti-migrant rhetoric and populist policies including free train travel for students and pensioners are expected to garner enough votes to allow his party to form a coalition government, analysts say.

The leftist nationalist, 51, has fiercely opposed EU quotas on migrant resettlement from Greece and Italy, which would see his country take about 2,600 people. Slovakia only received 260 asylum requests last year.