Slovak presidential elections: A country at a crossroads between progression and regression

Do druhého kola, které proběhne v sobotu 30. března 2019, se dostala občanská aktivistka a advokátka Zuzana Čaputová a Evropský komisař pro energetickou unii Maroš Šefčovič.

On 16th March 2019, Slovakia held its historically fifth direct presidential elections, providing an opportunity to measure the country’s general mood and future direction. The first round of elections was significantly dominated by Zuzana Čaputová, a lawyer and a civil activist, who gained 40,6 % of the votes.

Along with Čaputová, Maroš Šefčovič, the Slovak European Commissioner for the Energy Union with a support of the ruling SMER party, proceeded to the second round of Slovak presidential elections. He gained 18,7 % of the votes, which aligns with the last available survey of the SMER political party preferences.  Although Šefčovič claims to be an independent candidate, his rhetoric, as the elections draw nearer, has increasingly begun to resemble that of SMER’s, and he even joined Fico in the annual roadshow of Womens’ Day celebrations, known to aim at Slovak elderly and securing their votes for SMER. With Čaputová leading by more than twice as many votes before entering the second round, Šefčovič praised a fresh start “from zero” during his speech at the end of the electoral night. However, with such a large discrepancy between the two candidates, it was expected that the two weeks of campaigning preceding the second round of the elections could get dirty.

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