In 2009, ruling parties continued in their endeavor to retain power and concentrate it further. In doing so, they applied etatist and centralistic approaches as well as clientelist practices. Several serious corruption scandals that negatively affected the country s domestic politics were unmasked in 2009. Ruling parties used the so-called ethnic card as a tool of voter mobilization. An example of this tactics was the most recent presidential elections in spring 2009 in which ruling parties tried to discredit the joint candidate of opposition parties by often mendacious nationalistic arguments. The use of the ethnic card in domestic politics complicated interethnic relations within Slovakia as well as bilateral relations between Slovakia and Hungary.