Slovak voters elected the social democrat Peter Pellegrini, an ally of the pro-Russian populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, as the country’s new president, thus consolidating the coalition government of social democrats, leftists and ultra-nationalists. Pellegrini, who is now president of the Parliament, overcame pro-European candidate Ivan Korcok in the second round of the presidential election on Saturday, presenting himself as a defender of peace and negotiation with Russia and accusing his opponent of being a supporter of war because of his position in favor of Ukraine.
Pellegrini obtained 53.26% of the votes, compared to 46.73% of Korcok, according to the results revealed in the morning with the scrutiny practically completed. “We have sent a signal that the coalition remains stable”, said Pellegrini after the result was made public, more inflated than the polls predicted.
Peter Pellegrini, 48 years old, who was also prime minister, will succeed the liberal Zuzana Caputová in the presidency on June 15, who has held the position for one term (five years) and decided not to run for a second term . Caputová, whom Fico has repeatedly insulted and called an “agent of the United States,” said she was not running for re-election because of the harassment and death threats she and her family have received. Pellegrini maintains that his victory implies that the Government will have support in its objectives and will no longer face “an opportunistic and oppositional power centre”, with reference to the outgoing Caputová.
In Slovakia, the president, apart from the usual representative function in a direction of the State, has almost no powers, although he can veto laws or contest them before the Constitutional Court. He appoints the judges of the TC, which can be important in the political struggle over the reforms of the current Government. Fico, who came to power for a fourth time in October 2023, has steered foreign policy toward more pro-Russian views and initiated criminal law and media reforms that are raising concerns in Brussels about the weakening of the State of law His coalition cut off the official Slovak arms shipment to Ukraine.
Peter Pellegrini is leader of Hlas (The Voice), a party that forms part of the Government led by the populist social democratic Smer-SSD formation of Robert Fico, together with the ultra-nationalist SNS. Smer-SSD and Hlas were suspended from the group of European social democrats because of that pact with the ultras. The opposition candidate Ivan Korcok, a 60-year-old diplomat who was Minister of Foreign Affairs, had warned that if Peter Pellegrini won there would be no counterweight to Fico’s Government, which is quite close to the ultra-conservative Hungarian Viktor Orbán, and which maintains similar pro-Russian and anti-immigration positions.
Pellegrini is seen as more moderate than Fico, but he portrayed Korcok as a warmonger for his support for arming Ukraine and hinted that his rival would send Slovak troops to war in the neighboring country, something Korcok had not said. “I would never allow a Slovak soldier to enter Ukraine. Everything possible must be done so that people do not kill each other, on both sides”, said Pellegrini in the last televised debate.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a key element of the election campaign in this Central European country of 5.4 million inhabitants. The first round was held on March 23 and none of the eleven candidates got more than the 50% required, so Korcok – who came first on that occasion – and Pellegrini went to the second round.
Peter Pellegrini belonged to Robert Fico’s party, was a minister in Fico’s previous governments and even replaced him as prime minister after his government fell in 2018 as a result of the investigative journalist’s murder Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, shot dead in their home by a mob hitman. The double crime triggered a wave of protests across the country that forced Fico to resign.
