Slovakia's former prime minister Robert Fico will return to his old job after his left-wing Smer party trounced its opponents in Saturday's parliamentary election.

Smer-Social Democracy party won more than 44 percent of the vote, or 83 seats in the 150-seat parliament. The conservative SDKU party, led by outgoing Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, received around six percent of the vote.

The results give Mr. Fico enough support to govern independently, the first time since Slovakia gained independence in 1993.

Mr. Fico, who was Slovakia's prime minister from 2006 to 2010, campaigned on promises to preserve the welfare system while raising taxes on corporations and the rich.

Saturday's election came two years early. A four-party ruling coalition collapsed in October when one of its junior members refused to back expansion of the eurozone's bailout fund.

The coalition was also involved in a scandal when a secret service wiretap revealed what sounded like a private financial group bribing government politicians.