the populist candidate Peter Pellegrini elected clearly against the pro-European Ivan Korcok

The ally of the populist government Peter Pellegrini won the presidential election in Slovakia on Saturday April 6, according to figures published by the Slovak Statistics Office covering 99.8% of the votes. He was well ahead of pro-European diplomat Ivan Korcok in the second round, obtaining 53.20% of the votes.

“It’s a great satisfaction (…) I want to be a president who will defend the national interests of Slovakia,” declared Peter Pellegrini in a speech to his supporters. This trained economist assured that he wanted to do everything “so that Slovakia remains on the side of peace and not on the side of war”.

Ukraine at the heart of the electoral campaign

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was one of the key elements of the electoral campaign in this country of 5.4 million inhabitants, particularly since the populist Prime Minister, Robert Fico, a long-time ally of the new president , questioned Kiev’s sovereignty and called for peace with Moscow. In place since October, the current government made up of Robert Fico’s Smer-SD party, Peter Pellegrini’s Hlas-SD party and the small far-right SNS party, has also cut off its military aid to neighboring Ukraine.

Peter Pellegrini was a minister in the previous governments of Robert Fico. He even replaced him as Prime Minister after the fall of his government in 2018. Although his powers are limited, the Slovak president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ratifying international treaties and appointing key judges. He can also veto laws passed by Parliament.