The Republic Movement () is an

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

led by

Milan Uhrík Milan Uhrík (born 21 December 1984) is a Slovakia, Slovak politician, Member of the European Parliament, MEP and the leader of the Republic Movement. A former Non-Inscrits, non-inscrit, he is now a part of the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group, ...

. The party is often regarded as

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...

despite some political experts contesting this description. Founded in March 2021 by Uhrík and other former members of the far-right

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

party

People's Party Our Slovakia Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia (, ĽSNS) is a far-right, neo-Nazi political party in Slovakia. The party claims to derive its origin from the legacy of Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso. Positioned on the far-right of the political spect ...

(ĽSNS) of

Marian Kotleba Marian Kotleba (; born 7 April 1977) is a Slovakia, Slovak politician and leader of the far-right, neo-Nazi political party Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia (). He served as the governor of Banská Bystrica Region from 2013 to 2017. He ...

, the movement took over and renamed the existing party ''Voice of the People'' () led by Peter Marček, which had only 50 members in 2018. Marček was later kicked out of the party. Due to the defection of former ĽSNS representatives, the party had five seats in the

National Council of the Slovak Republic The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameralism, unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation ...

before the 2023 election. Uhrík was elected a

member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for ĽSNS in 2019.

History

The party was formed on 9 March 2021 by taking over and renaming an already-established political party, ''Voice of the People'' (). Before this, the party was led by Peter Marček, and had only 50 members as of 2018. Milan Uhrík became the party's new chairman. Apart from Uhrík, additional former members of the

party ĽSNS joined the newly-renamed party. This included

Milan Mazurek Milan Mazurek (born 24 January 1994) is a far-right Slovak politician who serves for the Republic party (formerly People's Party Our Slovakia). In 2019, he was convicted of defamation of race based on his anti-Romani statements, and became the ...

Miroslav Suja Miroslav may refer to: * Miroslav (given name), a Slavic masculine given name * ''Young America'' (clipper) or ''Miroslav'', an Austrian clipper ship in the Transatlantic case oil trade * Miroslav (Znojmo District), a town in the Czech Republic S ...

, Ondrej Ďurica, and Eduard Kočiš, among others. Marček was kicked out of the party in June 2022. The party accused him of "doing his own politics" without consulting Uhrík. Marček, however, accused them of

tendencies and beliefs, and stated his objections were the primary reason for his firing. As of 2022, the party consists of 1,044 members.

Political positions

Political experts consider the party to be radically

and

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

. The party is generally described as

by news publications, but some political experts contest this description. The party self-identifies as "

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and patriotic".

Foreign policy

The party's voter-base is highly

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

and Russophilic. The party's political positions are radically critical of Slovakia's membership in the EU and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The party supports closer trade relations with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and other

BRICS BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising ten countriesBrazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The idea of a BRICS-like group can be traced back to Russian foreign ...

countries. The party advocates for the withdrawal of Slovakia out of

. It also advocates against sending any and all lethal military aid to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during the

Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, beginning after the Russian invasion. The party supports China's peace plan for the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Uhrík has suggested that the West has provoked China through its support for Taiwan. Uhrík supported a ceasefire during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, describing a

two-state solution The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the esta ...

as the only long-term solution to the Israel–Palestine conflict. However, he suggested that this state should be the culmination of the peace process rather than the beginning, to avoid the Palestinians making additional demands from the Israeli side. Uhrík also criticised Israel for civilian casualties in Gaza and the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Social issues

The party advocates for complete suspension of government support to all

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s, especially ones it describes as "

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and Soros' organizations." During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the party took a staunch anti-vaccination position and advocated for

COVID-19 vaccinations A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19, COVID19). Knowledge about the structure ...

of children to be halted. The party takes a staunch

anti-LGBT The following outline offers an overview and guide to topics about LGBTQ people. ''LGBTQ'' is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroroman ...

position. It voted in favor of rejecting the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

’s appeal for the betterment of conditions of LGBT people in Slovakia. It then also voted in favor of a ban on legal gender change. This bill failed, however. The party calls for Slovakia to stop all

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

, even if doing so goes against EU institutions. The party's leader, Uhrík, stated the party has the greatest amount of members in the ''Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Campaigners'' of any party, which the organization rejected. The organization then called the party's representatives

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

in response. Later, after Uhrík published a photo of him alongside the organization's president, the organization's members protested the move and called the party's members

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

and

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

Public image

Social media

The party keeps a strong presence on social media, especially

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. It is known for the rampant spread of election disinformation, Russian wartime propaganda, and anti-vaccination rhetoric. The party was taken to court over the

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

of infectiologist Peter Sabak via their Facebook profile. The party lost the case and was ordered to pay €15,000 for the immaterial damage caused, as well as offer a public apology. In June 2023,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

terminated the accounts of multiple party members and accounts associated with the party.

International Relations

On 30 April 2023, Republic organised a joint declaration with

Confederation of the Polish Crown The Confederation of the Polish Crown (, KKP), often shortened to The Crown (), is a far-right political party in Poland. The party was founded by Grzegorz Braun as a personal political vehicle. As such, the party and its views largely stem from ...

(KKP),

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD),

Freedom and Direct Democracy Freedom and Direct Democracy (, SPD) is a political party in the Czech Republic. It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The party has been described as right-wing or far-right on the political spectrum. It ...

(SPD),

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

Alliance for the Union of Romanians The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (, AUR) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Romania and Moldova. It was founded in 2019 ahead of the 2020 Romanian local elections, 2020 Romanian local and 2020 Romanian legisl ...

(AUR) and Som Catalans. On 26 July 2023, Republic took part in a conference organised by AUR in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. On 12 April 2024, Republic signed the '

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Declaration', organised by the Bulgarian Revival party. On 10 July 2024, Republic MEP Uhrík joined the

Europe of Sovereign Nations Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) may refer to: * Europe of Sovereign Nations (party), an ultranationalist European political alliance *Europe of Sovereign Nations Group The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN; , ENS; ) is a far-right poli ...

group in the European Parliament as a deputy chair of the group, although the party's other MEP,

, was excluded. Other members of the group include the AfD, SPD, Revival, Our Homeland Movement,

New Hope New Hope may refer to: Places United States * New Hope, Alabama * New Hope, Arkansas (disambiguation) * New Hope, Florida * New Hope, Early County, Georgia * New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia * New Hope, Illinois * New Hope, Indiana * New Hope ...

Reconquête Reconquête (, ), stylised as Reconquête! (often shortened as R!), is a far-right political party in France founded in late 2021 by Éric Zemmour, who has since served as its leader. He was a candidate in the 2022 presidential election, in w ...

and the People and Justice Union.

Relationship with neo-Nazi groups

The founding members of the party, including the leader, Uhrík, defected from the

party ĽSNS in order to found the party.

, a founding member and the party's vice-chairman, was convicted of

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

and thus had his parliamentary seat revoked in 2019. In 2016, he posted a Facebook statement asserting the Holocaust was a "lie and fairy tale". The post was then investigated by

the police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

, as Holocaust denial is outlawed in Slovakia. Ondrej Ďurica, another founding member and vice-chairman, used to be a frontman for a Slovak neo-Nazi

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

titled ''White Resistance'' ().

Election results

National Council

European Parliament

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Republic Far-right political parties in Slovakia Neo-fascist parties Political parties established in 2021 Conservative parties in Slovakia Nationalist parties in Slovakia Political parties established in 1989 Eurosceptic parties in Slovakia Slovak nationalism National conservative parties Socially conservative parties Right-wing populist parties Right-wing populism in Slovakia Right-wing politics in Slovakia Right-wing parties in Europe Russophilic parties in Slovakia Paleoconservative organizations Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Slovakia Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Europe Anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Europe Opposition to same-sex marriage in Europe Anti-immigration politics in Europe Paleoconservatism Christian nationalism in Europe Member parties of the Identity and Democracy Party Anti-Islam political parties in Europe Anti-Islam sentiment in Europe Antifeminism