Vladimir Meciar, who made Slovakia a 1990s diplomatic pariah, scored a shock first round win in a presidential election this weekend, embarrassing the reformist government just before the country joins the EU.
The remarkable comeback by the 61-year-old autocrat and lawyer will embarrass Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, who will lead the ex-communist state into the EU on May 1 after six years of trying to erase Meciar's legacy both at home and in the West.
The former prime minister won 32.7 percent of the vote, official results showed.
His former "euroskeptic" ally Ivan Gasparovic was second with 22.3 percent, just 0.2 points ahead of Dzurinda's Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, a career diplomat who led opinion polls.
The crown currency was likely to be weakened by the news, analysts said.
Criticized by the EU for much of the past decade for ignoring human rights and backsliding on democracy while in power, western diplomats are unlikely to immediately throw open their doors to welcome Meciar even though he says experience has made him a "changed man."
Meciar says he now supports joining the EU, a bloc he once painted as a bullying imperialist force meddling in the affairs of his small country. But Western diplomats are likely to be skeptical, analysts said, and will be slow to welcome him if he wins a runoff vote April 17 against Gasparovic.
"This result is absolutely shocking ... and it will definitely complicate the whole country's situation, especially for the government," said Grigory Meseznikov, head of the independent IVO think-tank.
The president holds mostly token powers in the country of 5.4 million people. But the post also has a powerful veto, which in Meciar's hands could cripple Dzurinda's coalition, now struggling to finish an overhaul of the education, healthcare and other sectors without a majority in parliament.
During the campaign Meciar railed against government reforms -- which were needed to prepare for EU accession -- that have hit many Slovaks hard, especially in the poorer rural regions of the country where he has always found his staunchest support.
"I think the loss by Mr. Kukan is a blow to the solidarity of the coalition government. The coalition is weaker," said political analyst Michal Vasecka.
Meciar was also helped by low voter turnout. Only 47.94 percent of the electorate cast ballots.
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