Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was in a "very serious" but stable condition on Thursday, a hospital official said, after he was shot five times in an assassination attempt that has laid bare deep political divisions in the country.
The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years, and spurred international condemnation, with political analysts and lawmakers saying it was indicative of an increasingly febrile and polarised political climate across the continent.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova called for a calming of political tensions and said she would invite all parliamentary party leaders for a joint meeting. Fico ally and President-elect Peter Pellegrini urged parties to suspend or tone down their campaigning for next month's European Parliament elections.
"If there is anything the people of Slovakia urgently need today, it is at least a basic consensus and unity among Slovaks' political representatives," said Pellegrini, who won an April election for the mainly ceremonial post of president.
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