Its newly elected president Slovakia Peter Pellegrini today called on political parties to “suspend” their campaigning for the June 8 European elections, a day after the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fitzo.

“I call on all parties to temporarily suspend or significantly reduce their campaigning,” Pellegrini, who will take office in June, told reporters in Bratislava. “Slovakia does not need more confrontation” and “accusations from both sides” at the moment.

“If there is anything that the people of Slovakia urgently need today, it is at least a basic sense of consensus and unity among Slovak political representatives,” said Pellegrini, who won an April election for the largely ceremonial post. of the president.

In a country divided between a pro-Kremlin government and a pro-Western opposition, outgoing president Zuzana Tsaputova, who appeared alongside her successor, also called for an “exit from this vicious cycle of hatred”.

“We want to send a message … in this tense situation,” he said.

“What happened yesterday (Wednesday) was an individual action, but today’s climate is a result of our collective actions,” Tsaputova added, calling on political leaders to the presidential palace to “calm things down and condemn violence.”

59-year-old Robert Ficho, who was seriously injured by bullets yesterday, with the attacker’s motives still unclear, is in a “very serious” condition, according to the Banska Bystrica hospital, where he underwent a long-term surgery.