It seems to be local elections week on The Semi-presidential One. On Saturday, municipal elections were held in Slovakia.

The Slovak Spectator is reporting that turnout was almost 50 per cent, though it was much higher in small local constituencies than in the big cities. In Bratislava turnout was about 33 per cent. They also provide the results of the mayoral elections in the country’s biggest cities. Smer, which lost power following this summer’s election but which was by far the largest party in terms of votes, has done well. In Bratislava a Smer-backed independent won. In Košice the Smer candidate has ousted the incumbent mayor. The Slovak Spectator also reports that Mikuláš Dzurinda, the leader of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), which is part of the governing coalition, has admitted that the elections were a defeat. That said, independent candidates and candidates from the governing coalition did win office in some places.

One of the complications of local elections is that national-level coalitions do not replicate themselves at the local level. So, at the local level Smer candidates have sometimes been elected with the support of parties that are in power at the national level.

Official results are available in English here.