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| - Slovakia's ruling populist left joined forces in parliament with a far-right party Tuesday to pass a last-minute government measure boosting pensions ahead of Saturday's general election. Struggling to keep its grip on power, the governing Smer-Social Democracy (Smer-SD) led by Robert Fico fast-tracked the legislation intended to give pensioners a 13th payment each year. Adopted with 88 votes in the 150-member parliament, the far-right LSNS Our Slovakia joined the Smer-SD and two smaller parties to pass the measure during an extraordinary session of parliament convened for the vote. The Smer-SD can "single-handedly find the 400 million euros ($435 million)" to cover the cost of the extra pension payment, Fico said following the vote, Slovakia's TASR news agency reported. Most opposition MPs from centre-right and liberal parties boycotted the vote, slamming the extra pension benefit as pork-barrel electioneering and an abuse of public funds. "It's the worst case of pre-election corruption," Andrej Kiska, Slovakia's former liberal president and Fico's long-time political rival, said on his official Facebook page. But he added that his Za Ludi (For the People) party would not scrap the measure should it take power. The Smer-SD has so far ruled out cooperating with the far-right LSNS after the election. Surveys show that the Smer-SD is on track to top the vote by a paper-thin margin, while its current coalition partners may fall out of parliament. The far-right LSNS, which currently holds 10 seats, is on track to expand its presence. Citing opinion polls, Bratislava-based analyst Grigorij Meseznikov predicts that centre-right and liberal opposition parties stand a real chance of winning enough seats to form a coalition government. Parliament is also set to vote on another Smer-SD draft law on Wednesday intended to double the child allowance to 50 euros. Liberal President Zuzana Caputova said she will neither veto nor sign the legislation into law until after the election in this eurozone member of 5.4 million people. The Smer-SD's spending measures are similar to ones introduced in neighbouring Poland by the governing right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), which commentators believe helped it win a second consecutive term in elections last October. juh/mas/jj
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