Kotleba's party

Neither Kotleba nor Slovak Togetherness was a stranger to such rhetoric, yet the party never amounted to anything more than a marginal political force.

"We are leaving this coffin and a nice wreath here for [the prime minister] as a heartfelt gift," Miroslav Suja, an LSNS member of parliament, said, standing in front of Matovic's gate.

A priest from Trnava, a city 40 kilometres to the east, offered his blessing to Kotleba, his party and its supporters — intoning that they could "save our beloved country".

See also:

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Slovak Democracy Seen at Stake in Make-or-Break Election

Don't Underestimate Slovakia's Neo-Nazi Threat

"Namely because of the situation we've seen since 2016, when a party supposedly built on a neo-Nazi ideology entered parliament," said Vilagi from Comenius University in Bratislava.

She was referring to the far-right Kotleba - People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), which is polling in second or third place ahead of the country's February 29 parliamentary election.

Four years later, with LSNS polling around 14 per cent ahead of a parliamentary election at the end of February, that question has a new urgency.

The party's rise has polarised Slovak society and divided opinion among commentators, experts and political leaders about whether to sup with the devil — and if so, with how long a spoon.