Saturday's parliamentary elections in Slovakia brought some significant changes and surprises. The opposition Ordinary People party, or OLANO, beat the ruling SMER Social Democrats by more than six points.
The result was contrary to opinion polls, which hadn't been able to separate the two main parties. OLANO leapt from winning 19 seats at the last election to 53 this time. That's short of the 76 needed for a majority, so leader Igor Matovic is seeking a deal with another party - and the new government is expected to have a very different focus to the previous one.
Igor Matovic meets the press outside Bratislava castle. AP Photo/Petr David Josek
"Trust me that we, with another party, will try our best with the leaders of other opposition parties to set up the best government Slovakia has ever had," promised Matovic, a self-made millionaire. "A government which for the first time will not serve the upper 10,000 but the lower five million people, where justice will be for everyone, and where we all will be equal."
Matovic was taking aim at the outgoing SMER-SD party, which had lost popularity over broken promises on social reforms. Instead of protesting in the streets, Slovaks hit the government where it hurts - in the ballot box.
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