With 99% of the votes counted, candidate Peter Pellegrini won the Slovak presidential election runoff on April 6 after winning 53% of the votes. Mr. Pellegrini is a close ally of “pro-Russian” Prime Minister Robert Fico.
The Slovak president has little executive power, but plays an important role in appointing the government and judiciary, can veto bills and shape public opinion.
Despite the president's limited powers in the Eastern European country, the election is widely seen as a test of strength between political factions with radically different views on Russia.
The defeated candidate, former Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a polar opposite of Prime Minister Fico. Mr Korcok, like Kiev’s Western allies, argued that halting arms supplies to Ukraine would not lead to peace but to a Russian victory.
Mr Korcok, 60, served as Slovakia's special envoy to the EU and then Slovakia's ambassador to the US, before taking on a foreign affairs role in centre-right governments in 2021-2022. At the time, Slovakia was a staunch ally of Ukraine, supplying it with air defence systems and fighter jets.
Peter Pellegrini addresses supporters at his headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia, April 7, 2024. Photo: CTV News
Candidate Pellegrini, with Prime Minister Fico at his side, declared victory early on the morning of April 7, shortly after Mr Korcok conceded defeat.
Mr Pellegrini, 48, said his victory meant the Slovak government would receive support for its goals and not face an “opportunistic, opposition centre of power”, referring to the outgoing liberal President Zuzana Caputova.
Seen as more moderate than the populist prime minister, Mr Pellegrini said earlier on April 6 that electing him would not mean rushing into any fundamental changes in foreign policy.
“This is not the direction of foreign policy in the future. I also guarantee, like the other candidates, that we will continue to be an active member of the EU and NATO,” the politician said after casting his vote in a suburb of the capital Bratislava.
Mr Pellegrini, the current speaker of the Slovak Parliament, is a long-time ally of Mr Fico. After legislative elections last September saw Mr Fico's left-wing populist SMER party win, Mr Pellegrini chose Mr Fico as prime minister to lead the new government .
Minh Duc (According to Reuters, NY Times)
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