Slovakia election: polls open in knife-edge vote with Ukraine high on agenda

Election could decide whether country sticks with liberal, pro-western line or begins to lean more towards Russia

Voting has started in a knife-edge election in Slovakia that could decide whether the country sticks with its liberal, pro-western line or abandons its staunch support for neighbouring Ukraine to lean more towards Moscow.

After a virulent campaign that has included physical brawls and amid a wave of online disinformation, the populist, nationalist three-time prime minister Robert Fico and his Smer-SD party were neck and neck with the newcomers Progressive Slovakia heading into the vote, with PS just ahead in two of the final four opinion polls.