The candidate of the ruling coalition, Peter Pelegrini, won the presidential elections in Slovakia, and after receiving the results from more than 90 percent of the voting districts, he recorded the support of 55 percent of the citizens who went to the polls.
The results from 92.9 percent of the districts showed that Pellegrini is ahead of the pro-Western opposition candidate Ivan Korčok, who has the support of 45 percent of citizens and who has already admitted defeat and congratulated Pellegrini on his victory.
Pelegrini, 48, is a long-time ally of Prime Minister Robert Fitz, so the victory is a boost for the Slovak prime minister in a political turnaround that includes pro-Russian positions and plans to reform the criminal code and public television, raising concerns about the weakening of the rule of law.
Fico previously chose Pellegrini as prime minister after he was forced to step down amid public protests against corruption following the murder of an investigative journalist in 2018. Pellegrini later split from Fico and founded his own party Hlas (Voice), more liberal and closer to the center than Fico’s populist left-wing SMER party. but together with Fico and the nationalist SNS, he formed the government last October.
Slovak presidents do not have much executive power, but they can veto laws or ask the constitutional court to review them. Presidents nominate members of the constitutional court, which could be important in upcoming battles over Fitz’s reforms that would dramatically reduce penalties for corruption.
In the campaign, Pellegrini tried to portray Korčok as a warmonger because of his support for sending weapons to Ukraine and said he could lead Slovak soldiers to war, which Korčok denied. Pellegrini is considered more moderate than Fico, and he previously stated that his election would not mean a rush to change foreign policy.
“It is not about the future direction of foreign policy, I am also a guarantee, like the other candidate, that we will continue to be a strong member of the EU and NATO,” he said.
Independent Korčok, who surprisingly won the most votes in the first round two weeks ago, was Slovakia’s envoy to the EU and later ambassador to the United States, before taking the post of foreign minister in the center-right governments in 2021-2022.
At that time, Slovakia was a faithful ally of Ukraine, providing it with anti-aircraft defense and fighter aircraft. The Fitz government stopped this after taking power, Agencies report.
