HZDS Strongest Party in Slovakia With 24 Percent

BRATISLAVA (SITA) - If the general election takes place this weekend the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) would win, enjoying the support from 24 percent of potential voters. The Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) would place second with 23.2 percent, and the newcomer among Slovakia`s political parties the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) would be third, gaining 17.1 percent of votes. 9.1 percent of respondents would not go voting while 11.6 percent did not know or did not want to go to the polling stations. The FOCUS agency conducted its public opinion polling on May 5-13, on 1,082 respondents. Political party-movement - coalition % of potential voters reliability interval % of voters MAY 1998 May 1998 April 1998: HZDS 24.0 21.1 - 26.9 21.9 SDK 23.2 20.4 - 26.0 24.5 SOP 17.1 14.6 - 19.6 1 7.2 SDL 9.7 7.7 - 11.7 9.7 MK 9.7 7.7 - 11.7 9.6 SNS 6.2 4.6 - 7.8 7.0 KSS 3.8 2.5 - 5.1 4.5 ZRS 3.0 1.9 - 4,1 2.6 others 3.3 2.1 - 4.5 3.0 HZDS - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, SDK - Slovak Democratic Coalition, SOP - Party of Civic Understanding, SDL - Party of the Democratic Left, MK - Hungarian Coalition, SNS - Slovak National Party, KSS - Communist Party of Slovakia, ZRS - Slovak Association of Workers.