date=9/28/94
type=background report
number=5-18326
title=Slovak vote / business
byline=Barry Wood
dateline=Bratislava
content=
voiced at:

Intro:  Slovakia is preparing for its first parliamentary
election  (on Friday and Saturday) since independence and the
break-up of Czechoslovakia at the beginning of 1993.  In this
background report, V-o-A correspondent Barry Wood reports about
how business flourishes at a Bratislava hotel while an election
campaign goes on outside.

Text:  For Esther Dyson, Slovakia is just another stop on a
month-long business trip that has taken her from home in New York
to Warsaw, Budapest, Barcelona, and Moscow.  Ms. Dyson edits a
newsletter on information technologies.  She organizes
conferences that bring together computer users and suppliers in
post-communist Europe.  In Bratislava, she is completing a four
day seminar.

An experienced observer of Central and Eastern Europe, Ms. Dyson
says four countries -- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and
Slovenia -- have emerged as the leaders in building democracies
and market economies.  These countries, she says, are succeeding
in building the modern infrastructures that permit technology to
be harnessed so that it can accelerate economic development.

Ms. Dyson worries about the more than one dozen other
transforming economies that are doing worse.  She eagerly awaits
the results of the Slovak elections, which she believes will
affect Slovakia's image abroad.

                       ///  Dyson act  ///

         In one sense, the election is  not  important, because
         people continue to move forward, regardless.  But it has
         a huge impact on the level of foreign investment.  It
         has an impact on morale.  The luxury is when the
         elections don't matter.  And I think in Poland and
         Hungary and the Czech Republic the governments change
         and people get excited, but fundamentally (with regard
         to affecting) the momentum of the business community
         that is carrying things forward, it (the vote) doesn't
         really matter.  Even the so-called ex-communists are
         really reformers.  They're  not  really idealogues
         anymore. They're just trying to make things work.  But
         in Slovakia, it is much more touchy.

                        ///  End act  ///

Downstairs in the hotel, an American chamber of commerce
breakfast brings together 20 resident business people, who also
have a keen eye on the election campaign.  Reflecting on his year
in Slovakia, an American lawyer says he understands the
frustrations of poor Slovaks, most of whom live in rural
mountainous areas.  He says he will  not  be surprised if the
populist, former communist, Vladimir Meciar, does well in the
election.

It is surprising to hear the former communists referred to as
reform communists.  Now called the party of the democratic left,
the reform communists could play a key role in determining the
shape of Slovakia's next coalition government.  For Esther Dyson
and potential investors like her, the election result will
determine whether Slovakia will maintain the pace of market-based
reform or slide back towards controls and state domination.
(Signed)

neb/bdw/skh/jwh

28-Sep-94 10:53 am edt (1453 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America

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