According to preliminary results and counting from almost all polling stations, the current Social Democratic President of Parliament received 53.26 percent of the vote. The non-party former diplomat Ivan Korčok only got 46.73 percent. In the first round of voting two weeks ago, the ex-foreign minister was just ahead of Pellegrini.
Around 4.3 million eligible voters in Slovakia were called on Saturday to elect a new head of state for the next five-year term. The outcome will impact the country’s future course. Pellegrini is considered to be in the pro-Russian camp.
- HONEY: Slovakia: Pellegrini wins presidential election
The election drama that was generally expected in Slovakia did not take place. Pellegrini beat his rival by 6.5 percentage points. He is the sixth president of his country to be elected by the citizens in a direct election. Voter turnout was more than 61 percent.
Shortly after midnight, Pellegrini thanked his voters and supporters. “It’s a great commitment for me, a tremendous honor,” he said. After everything he had to endure during the election campaign, it was also a great satisfaction, he added. The left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico also stood at his side during the acceptance speech. Commenting on the results, it has become clear that a large part of the country wants a style of government like that adopted by Fico’s cabinet and a continuation of this policy.
Shortly beforehand, Korčok admitted his defeat, but at the same time heavily criticized the government camp’s election campaign tactics. It has not only been proven that “you can become president by spreading hate.” You can also win if you make the other a “candidate for war,” he explained, alluding to the narrative spread by government politicians that Korčok as president would drag Slovakia into the war in neighboring Ukraine. He respects the fact that the runoff election was decided by a record high voter turnout, but in his opinion also fear. Korčok was supported by the pro-European, liberal opposition.
The result means a further boost for the left-wing populist Fico, who is seeking more control over the media, a weakening of anti-corruption laws and less aid for Ukraine. And it also shows that the anti-government protests on the streets and the resistance of part of civil society, the liberal opposition and the media did not reflect the overall mood in the deeply polarized EU and NATO country Slovakia. A larger part of society does not seem to share the Fico critics’ concern for the rule of law and democracy, as well as their clear support for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia.
Fico stopped state military aid to neighboring Ukraine for defense against Russia because it only meant a continuation of the war while he was for peace, he argued. He replaced the leadership of the police and important state authorities and initiated a controversial judicial reform last December, which the liberal opposition and the EU Commission see as a threat to the rule of law in Slovakia. At the request of outgoing President Zuzana Čaputová, the Constitutional Court has now temporarily suspended parts of the reform. Recently, Fico and his government have also been accused of attacks on press freedom. The opposition camp fears that Pellegrini, as president, will only be an extension of Fico in the presidential palace.
Ivan Korčok received over 1.2 million votes in the runoff, 200,000 fewer than Pellegrini. Observers analyzed that the decisive factor for the result was the record high voter turnout. It was said that Peter Pellegrini had received a very strong mandate.
It remains to be determined what the high level of voter interest can be attributed to. “I can’t say now whether it was really fear, whether it was the issue of the Ukraine conflict that mobilized voters,” said Martin Slosiarik, head of the Focus polling agency for the TV channel Markiza. However, the result largely confirms the deep polarization in Slovakia; both camps will continue to face each other in the next few months and it could become very confrontational. “I can’t imagine that the country will calm down,” Slosiarik added.
In fact, the president in Slovakia has predominantly representative tasks. However, as in Austria, its importance increases in times of crisis. He can, for example, appoint a cabinet of experts according to his ideas, as Čaputová did after the fall of Eduard Heger’s right-wing conservative government the previous year. She no longer wanted to run for a second term, partly because of frequent verbal attacks from the government camp against her and her family. The current president’s term expires on June 15th.
