Hope for 'divided' Slovakia after Fico attack, says ex-president

Prague: Slovakia's former president Ivan Gasparovic on Friday expressed hopes that a deep schism within the country will be overcome following the attempted assassination this week of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

"Slovakia is totally divided," 83-year-old Gasparovic lamented on Czech public television, adding that society had at least found some unity in this terrible moment.

"Even those who have completely different views on Fico and politics in Slovakia have realised that things can't go on like this," said Gasparovic, a lawyer who headed the country from 2004 to 2014.

The National Council, Slovakia's unicameral parliament, had become "a circus tent and a boxing ring" where politicians' private affairs are discussed or hatred is spread, he continued.

On Wednesday, Fico, 59, was hit by several gunshots fired by a single attacker as he greeted supporters in a square in the central Slovakian town of Handlová.

He is currently recovering in the university hospital in nearby Banska Bystrica after a long operation.

Regarding Fico's condition after the surgery, Gasparovic said: "Not everything is in order, but his state is such that we have great hope that it will end well."

A 71-year-old suspect who was charged on Thursday with the attempted murder of Fico was described by authorities as a "lone wolf" motivated by political grievances.