"[6][7] Rumours were reported that prime minister Robert Fico might have secretly agreed not to enter a coalition with the Slovak nationalists again, unless he had no other choice.

[6] A later poll by of the Czech News Agency suggested that the governing coalition would lose its majority, and that one of Fico's allies (HZDS) would struggle with the 5% barrier.

[4] Incumbent Prime Minister Robert Fico's Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party increased its seat share by 12 to 62.

[10] Despite the setback, Fico said that he wanted to try to form a cabinet even though his leftist coalition could only command 71 of the 150 parliament seats and would thus force the need for at least one of the opposing centre-right parties.

"[11] The Slovak President, Ivan Gasparovic, asked Fico to attempt to form a government stating that "I believe that the party that won such support from the people deserves the chance.

[14] Radičová was then sworn in as PM on 8 July 2010,[15] after her coalition (comprising SDKU, KDH, SaS and Most-Hid[16]) secured a majority of 79 seats in the 150-seat parliament and Fico and his cabinet tendered their resignations.

[citation needed] The new government pledged to cut state spending and the budget deficit and to attract more foreign investment, while steering clear of tax rises.