In a shocking development, an alleged neo-Nazi party in Slovakia won seats in the nation’s parliament for the first time.
In the results of Saturday’s national elections announced Sunday, the far-right extremist "Our Slovakia" party scored 8 percent of the votes, which is equal to 14 seats. The country’s parliament, the National Council, has 150 members.
Party chairman Marian Kotleba had led the banned Slovak Togetherness-National Party, which organized anti-Roma rallies and expressed sympathy for the Slovakian Nazi-puppet state during World War II.
Kotleba sparked headlines in 2013 when he spoke out against the United States, the European Union and immigrants by displaying a banner from his office window stating "Yankees, go home," and referred to NATO as a “criminal organization."
Kotleba was charged with hate crimes, but they were later dropped.
“We have elected a fascist to parliament,” said Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak of Kotleba.
The ruling leftist Smer-Social Democracy party of Prime Minister Robert Fico won the election with 28.3 percent of the vote, or 49 seats, but are left scrambling for coalition partners to form a majority government.
In the previous election, in 2012, Smer took 44.4 percent of the vote, or 83 seats, and was not required to form a coalition.