Surprise in Slovakia: Ivan Korcok wins first round of the presidential elections

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The liberal opposition candidate assured him at his election party on Sunday evening that he would still “keep his feet on the ground.” Because even more efforts are needed to win the second election on April 6.

Korcok won the first round of voting with 42.5 percent of the vote, ahead of Social Democratic Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini, who received only 37.0 percent. The second election is necessary because none of the nine candidates obtained an absolute majority of more than 50 percent. The still popular incumbent President Zuzana Caputova did not run for a second term.

Criticism of Fico

In his own words, former Foreign Minister and diplomat Korcok now wants to talk more “with those tens of thousands of voters in the government coalition” who do not agree with their course. He cited the “foreign policy orientation” and the plan to bring public television and radio broadcasting under greater political control as concrete examples of what he believes is a misguided three-party government under left-wing populist Robert Fico. The government is also doing nothing to prevent more and more qualified young people from leaving the country, he said.

The 59-year-old career diplomat Korcok, backed by the liberal and conservative opposition parties, is calling for decisive military aid for neighboring Ukraine, which is under attack by Russia. His opponent Pellegrini, who was leading in almost all polls before the elections, is, unlike Prime Minister Fico, not opposed to arms deliveries in principle. However, he urged caution against further escalation of the war, citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

The pro-Russian nationalist came third

The 48-year-old Pellegrini belongs to the three-party coalition led by Fico with the party ‘Voice – Social Democracy’ (Hlas-SD) that he leads. In the election campaign, Pellegrini also received support from Fico’s Smer party, from which he split four years ago. However, the co-ruling right-wing populist Slovak National Party SNS backed pro-Russian nationalist and former Justice Minister Stefan Harabin, who came third with 11.7 percent.

Left-wing populist Fico admitted that many of his own supporters would not have voted for the more liberal Pellegrini. Part of the Smer voters stayed away from the elections and another part voted for the nationalist candidate Stefan Harabin. Fico predicted he now expected “an exciting race” for the second round.

According to most observers, the decisive factor for the outcome of the second round of elections will be the behavior of Harabin’s supporters and other right-wing populists. Asked by journalists on Sunday morning, the “anti-system politician” Harabin refused to make an election recommendation. Previously, he had made it clear several times that both Korcok and Pellegrini were too liberal for him. The co-governing SNS also attacked Pellegrini during the election campaign for his insufficiently nationalist stance. (SDA)

Source: Blick