As of: March 24, 2024, 5:53 p.m
By: Franziska Schwarz
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Press
Split
Controversial media politics: an anti-government demonstration in Bratislava (photo from March 15) © Jaroslav Novák/TASR/dpa
As expected, there will be a runoff election in Slovakia after the first round of voting.
Korcok promises a counterbalance to the left-wing government.
The news ticker.
4.4 million eligible voters
: Slovaks elect new head of state
Media policy
in
Slovakia
: protests against television and radio reform
This
news ticker
about the presidential elections in Slovakia is continuously updated.
Update from March 24th, 9:00 a.m.:
According to results published on Sunday night by the Slovakian statistics office after 99.9 percent of the votes were counted, 42.44 percent of the votes went to Korcok and 37.1 percent to Pellegrini in the first round .
The runoff election will take place on April 6th.
According to Slovakian electoral law, this is necessary if none of the candidates wins an absolute majority.
The first partial results initially indicated that Pellegrini had a lead in the first round of voting.
Pellegrini is an ally of the Russia-friendly head of government Robert Fico, who has been in office since autumn 2023 and who is denying Ukraine military aid to defend itself against Russia.
The 48-year-old has, among other things, questioned Ukraine's sovereignty and called on Kiev to make peace with Russia.
Update from March 23rd, 11:01 p.m.:
The first round of the presidential elections in Slovakia ends, as expected, in a runoff election.
The social democratic parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini and the former foreign minister and diplomat Ivan Korcok, who is supported by the liberal opposition, emerged as clear favorites, reported the
dpa
.
The two candidates will face each other in a runoff election on April 6th.
Korcok had announced that he would represent a counterweight to the left-wing government of Prime Minister Robert Fico if he won.
He wants to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
His opponent Pellegrini, however, urges caution when it comes to arms deliveries.
He wants to focus more on the domestic political division.
Elections in Slovakia: People elect new president in the middle of the Ukraine war
Update from March 23rd, 12:55 p.m.:
The presidential election began in Slovakia on Saturday morning.
A neck-and-neck race is expected between the populist parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini and the liberal diplomat Ivan Korcok.
A total of nine candidates are running for office in the NATO and EU country with 5.4 million inhabitants.
If none of the candidates achieves an absolute majority, the decision will be made in a runoff election on April 6th.
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Presidential candidate Ivan Korcok in his election office during the first round of presidential elections in Bratislava, Slovakia, March © Ondrej Deml/IMAGO
Pellegrini is an ally of Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico, who denies Ukraine military aid to defend itself against Russia.
Former Foreign Minister Korcok, on the other hand, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine and holds similar views to outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, who is not running for a second term.
“Korcok is the only viable option as Pellegrini is basically a Fico 2.0,” software developer Tomas Gubala told AFP as he cast his vote in the capital Bratislava.
The entrepreneur Roman Gejdos, on the other hand, called Pellegrini “certainly the best possible candidate”.
“I have complete confidence in him,” he continued.
In contrast to the other candidates, Pellegrini has experience in managing a country.
"If Pellegrini wins, Slovakia could go down the 'Orban path,'" said political scientist Tomas Koziak from ISM Slovakia University.
The pro-Western Korcok, on the other hand, would take an “uncompromising” stance towards Russia, said Koziak.
First report from March 22nd:
Bratislava - Around 4.4 million Slovak voters are allowed to elect a new head of state - and the outcome of the election will influence Bratislava's stance on the war in neighboring Ukraine.
Ten candidates are running, and according to polls for the Slovakian election, there are two clear favorites: the liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korcok promises a counterweight to the left-wing nationalist government, and the social democrat Peter Pellegrini, who is part of the governing coalition, is campaigning for overcoming the political divide.
Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to at least 10 p.m.
Slovakia election 2024: From the Empire to the Eurozone
Slovaks will elect their new head of state on Saturday (March 23).
The decision is expected to be made in April in a runoff between Pellegrini and Korcok.
Pellegrini is an ally of Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has refused military aid to Ukraine.
The president primarily has a representative role in the small NATO and EU state with 5.4 million inhabitants.
He ratifies international treaties, appoints the most important judges and is commander in chief of the armed forces.
He can also veto laws passed by Parliament.
Slovakia under Fico: No more help for Ukraine
During the war in Ukraine, Slovakia provided the neighboring country with extensive military and humanitarian aid.
But the Ukraine war is dividing Slovakia before the presidential election: When the populist and Russia friend Fico became head of government in October 2023, he stopped military aid and questioned Ukraine's sovereignty.
The population's attitude also changed: at the beginning of the war, many Slovaks took in Ukrainian refugees.
In a survey by the think tank Globsec, more than half of the participants blamed the West or Ukraine itself for the war.
Analysts believe that such attitudes are due to massive disinformation, which also had a strong influence on last year's parliamentary elections.
Protests in Slovakia against media policy under Robert Fico
Fico has also sparked protests with legislative plans for a restructuring of the public radio and television
RTVS
.
The liberal and conservative opposition had been accusing the coalition of two social democratic and one right-wing populist parties for days of wanting to create a government propaganda station.
On Thursday (March 14), President Zuzana Čaputová also criticized the plan.
Several non-governmental organizations announced that they wanted to involve the EU Commission.
More than a thousand
RTVS
employees signed a protest call by that day and did not rule out a strike.
(Editorial with news agency material)