In Slovakia elections were on on 14 November to elect the governors and deputies of its eight regions, or Higher Territorial Unit (VUCs).

Recall that the national government is a three-party coalition headed by Robert Fico of Smer-SD (Direction/Social Democracy) and includes representatives of the SNS (Slovak National Party) and the L’S-HZDS (People’s Party/Movement for Democratic Slovakia). Parliamentary elections are due to be held in June 2010.

The election for the governors is a two-round ballot. The second round will be held this weekend.

Slovak Spectator reports that turnout at the first round of the regional elections was very low at just 22.9% with only 19.5% in Bratislava. The full results in English are available here.

As is common in regional elections in countries with multi-party systems there were a lot of local alliances. Therefore, it is difficult to provide clear-cut results for individual parties. However, Slovak Spectator makes sense of the results as follows: “The coalition of Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Smer was the most successful with its 101 deputies of the total of 408 elected regional parliamentary deputies. It represents a 24.8 percent share. Independent candidates will hold 55 seats, 13.5 percent, while the centre-right coalition of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union and the Christian Democratic Movement will have 50 seats representing a 12.3 percent share”

Four of the eight governors were elected at the first ballot.

Košice: incumbent re-elected supported by Smer, the HZDS, the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and Most-Híd
Nitra: the Slovak coalition won, comprising opposition and coalition parties, Smer, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
Trnava: an independent was elected, but he was backed by the Slovak National Party (SNS)
Žilina: the winner was supported by the coalition parties Smer, SNS and HZDS.

So, basically, it seems to me that Smer and the incumbent coalition parties generally did pretty well.

There will be four run-off elections this weekend in the remaining regions. The government candidates seem well placed to win. The exception seems to be the Bratislava region where the government candidate is coming in a poor second and where the regional parliament will have an opposition majority comprising the KDH, the SDKÚ, the Civil Conservative Party (OKS), and the SMK.

Slovak Spectator provides a synopsis of the party situation in all eight regions.