Ukraine’s neighbor Slovakia elects head of state The world is not doing enough to expand renewable energy

Twenty years after Slovakia joined NATO and the European Union in 2004, Slovak politics and society are deeply divided. The climate between the government and the opposition is poisoned by aggressive hostilities, and social media channels and traditional media further fuel the hostile atmosphere. There is discussion about whether Ukraine, the neighboring country attacked by Russia, should continue to be supported with weapons or only with civilian supplies, as well as about judicial reforms and the future of public television and radio.

Against this backdrop, the approximately 4.4 million eligible voters are expected to elect a new president on Saturday. Ten candidates are running for the highest office in the state, and none of them are women. Incumbent President Zuzana Caputova is no longer running for office “for personal reasons.” She announced this last June. After years of political crises and hostility, including death threats against her and her family, she no longer has the strength for another five-year term.

Opinion polls in recent months show that Social Democratic Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini, who is part of the government camp, and former Foreign Minister and diplomat Ivan Korcok, who is supported by the liberal opposition, will win the second round to fetch. election on April 6. The only outsider who has a chance of a surprise is the nationalist ex-Minister of Justice and former judge Stefan Harabin. The seven other candidates are considered to have no chance.

In 2020, Pellegrini split from long-time Prime Minister Robert Fico’s left-wing national party Smer and founded a more liberal Social Democratic Party. After the House of Representatives elections in the autumn of 2023, he entered into a coalition with Fico and the right-wing populist small party SNS.

While Pellegrini used the slogan in his election campaign: “Slovakia needs calm!” Korcok is presented as a mediator between the feuding camps and wants to be a counterpoint to the Fico government. If Pellegrini is elected, Fico would control all positions of power in the state and reshape Slovakia along the lines of Viktor Orban’s Hungary, he warns.

Korcok is one of the most determined supporters of Slovak military aid to Ukraine. Unlike Fico, Pellegrini is also in favor of arms deliveries to the neighboring country, but he wants to follow the example of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and weigh up possible risks.

Harabin, on the other hand, favors an openly pro-Russian line and wants Slovakia to play a neutral role without NATO membership. With his ‘Heimat’ party he did not even get enough votes to enter parliament. But as a presidential candidate, in addition to many dissatisfied so-called ‘anti-system voters’, he also appeals to a large part of the voters of the Slovak National Party SNS, the smallest partner in the government. For them, not only Korcok, but also Pellegrini is too liberal and too pro-Western. (sda/dpa)