BRATISLAVA: Slovaks went to the polls on Saturday to select a brand new president, selecting between pro-Western opposition candidate Ivan Korcok and Peter Pellegrini operating for the ruling nationalist left coalition.
At stake is whether or not Prime Minister Robert Fico, who took energy in October for the fourth time, will get an ally within the presidential palace or an opponent who might problem his pro-Russian stance and plans to reform prison regulation and the media, which have raised considerations over weakening the rule of regulation.
The is anticipated to be tight, in response to ultimate opinion polls printed forward of a moratorium on campaigning from Thursday. Bookmakers made Korcok, who surprisingly topped the primary spherical two weeks in the past, the slight favorite on Friday.
Polling stations opened at 7 am(0500 GMT) and have been as a result of shut at 10 pm (2000 GMT). Preliminary projections are anticipated quickly after that and official outcomes will trickle in in a single day.
Slovak presidents would not have many govt powers however can veto legal guidelines or problem them within the constitutional courtroom. They nominate constitutional courtroom judges, who could change into essential in political strife over the destiny of Fico’s reforms, which might dramatically ease punishments for corruption.
Korcok, 60, has centered on making clear he doesn’t need Fico and all his coalition to have govt positions within the authorities, and likewise on talking out towards an anti-western coverage shift by Fico.
“I need to be at the start of a course of which might imply enchancment within the lifetime of our folks, and undoubtedly clarify the place Slovakia belongs,” Korcok stated after voting in Senec, 35 km (20 miles) northeast of Bratislava.
Pellegrini, 48, has tried to painting Korcok as a warmonger for his help for arming Ukraine and instructed he could take Slovak troops into the warfare, which Korcok denies.
Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, a human rights lawyer who isn’t in search of a second time period, criticised the warfare rhetoric in a tv handle on Wednesday.
“I’m sorry that taking part in with concern was a part of this marketing campaign,” Caputova stated.
“I’ve had the chance to get to know each presidential candidates throughout my 5 years in workplace and I can say with clear conscience that neither Peter Pellegrini, nor Ivan Korcok will drag us into any warfare and won’t ship any of our troopers to Ukraine.”
However Pellegrini, seen as extra reasonable than Fico, stated his election wouldn’t imply a rush to vary international coverage.
“This isn’t in regards to the future path of international coverage, I’m additionally a assure, like the opposite candidate, that we’ll proceed to be a robust member of the EU and Nato,” he stated after voting in Rovinka on the outskirts of the capital.
The impartial Korcok was Slovakia’s envoy to the EU and later ambassador to the US, earlier than taking the international affairs portfolio in centre-right governments in 2021-2022.
On the time, Slovakia was a staunch ally of Ukraine, offering it with air defence and fighter jets. Fico’s cupboard halted official provides after taking energy.
Pellegrini, now speaker of parliament, was a long-time ally of Fico, who picked him to be prime minister after Fico was compelled to resign amid public protests towards corruption following the homicide of an investigative journalist in 2018.
He later cut up from Fico to arrange his personal occasion, Hlas (Voice), extra centrist and liberal than Fico’s populist-leftist SMER-SSD, however fashioned a authorities with Fico and the nationalist SNS final October.
At stake is whether or not Prime Minister Robert Fico, who took energy in October for the fourth time, will get an ally within the presidential palace or an opponent who might problem his pro-Russian stance and plans to reform prison regulation and the media, which have raised considerations over weakening the rule of regulation.
The is anticipated to be tight, in response to ultimate opinion polls printed forward of a moratorium on campaigning from Thursday. Bookmakers made Korcok, who surprisingly topped the primary spherical two weeks in the past, the slight favorite on Friday.
Polling stations opened at 7 am(0500 GMT) and have been as a result of shut at 10 pm (2000 GMT). Preliminary projections are anticipated quickly after that and official outcomes will trickle in in a single day.
Slovak presidents would not have many govt powers however can veto legal guidelines or problem them within the constitutional courtroom. They nominate constitutional courtroom judges, who could change into essential in political strife over the destiny of Fico’s reforms, which might dramatically ease punishments for corruption.
Korcok, 60, has centered on making clear he doesn’t need Fico and all his coalition to have govt positions within the authorities, and likewise on talking out towards an anti-western coverage shift by Fico.
“I need to be at the start of a course of which might imply enchancment within the lifetime of our folks, and undoubtedly clarify the place Slovakia belongs,” Korcok stated after voting in Senec, 35 km (20 miles) northeast of Bratislava.
Pellegrini, 48, has tried to painting Korcok as a warmonger for his help for arming Ukraine and instructed he could take Slovak troops into the warfare, which Korcok denies.
Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, a human rights lawyer who isn’t in search of a second time period, criticised the warfare rhetoric in a tv handle on Wednesday.
“I’m sorry that taking part in with concern was a part of this marketing campaign,” Caputova stated.
“I’ve had the chance to get to know each presidential candidates throughout my 5 years in workplace and I can say with clear conscience that neither Peter Pellegrini, nor Ivan Korcok will drag us into any warfare and won’t ship any of our troopers to Ukraine.”
However Pellegrini, seen as extra reasonable than Fico, stated his election wouldn’t imply a rush to vary international coverage.
“This isn’t in regards to the future path of international coverage, I’m additionally a assure, like the opposite candidate, that we’ll proceed to be a robust member of the EU and Nato,” he stated after voting in Rovinka on the outskirts of the capital.
The impartial Korcok was Slovakia’s envoy to the EU and later ambassador to the US, earlier than taking the international affairs portfolio in centre-right governments in 2021-2022.
On the time, Slovakia was a staunch ally of Ukraine, offering it with air defence and fighter jets. Fico’s cupboard halted official provides after taking energy.
Pellegrini, now speaker of parliament, was a long-time ally of Fico, who picked him to be prime minister after Fico was compelled to resign amid public protests towards corruption following the homicide of an investigative journalist in 2018.
He later cut up from Fico to arrange his personal occasion, Hlas (Voice), extra centrist and liberal than Fico’s populist-leftist SMER-SSD, however fashioned a authorities with Fico and the nationalist SNS final October.
