Boris Kollar

Meanwhile, parliamentary speaker and Sme Rodina leader Boris Kollar rarely speaks about his family, but was forced to address the issue on Wednesday after one of the mothers of his 12 children by 10 wives, Barbora Richterova, accused him of beating her up in 2012 while on a holiday in Florida.

Nurturing 'pub talk'

The popularity of Robert Fico, the former prime minister and chair of the social democratic Smer party who is currently an opposition MP, has received a boost lately. While only 19 per cent of voters trusted him in November 2020, that figure had risen to 29 per cent by September, according to a poll by Focus.

The predominantly anti-vax protesters received onsite support and words of encouragement from several opposition politicians, including far-right leader Marian Kotleba from the People's Party - Our Slovakia (LSNS). He oversaw the demonstration with MPs from the leftist SMER-SD party, prompting talk of future cooperation between the two parties.

"No other government in Slovak history has ever started in such a complicated situation," President Zuzana Caputova said in a speech on March 19, expressing confidence that the cabinet would lead the country through the coronavirus crisis..