Slovakia will hold its second and final round of presidential elections on Saturday, pitting pro-Western diplomat Ivan Korkok against Ukraine-sceptic parliament speaker and government ally Peter Pellegrini.
They are vying to replace Liberal President Zuzana Caputova after she decided not to seek a second term as head of state of the EU and NATO member state.
Let's take a look at the contestants here.
Supported by populist Prime Minister Roberto Fico, the current speaker of parliament, Peter Pellegrini, claims that the country needs “peace” and, according to his election campaign slogan, “unites divided Slovakia. ” I swore.
Pellegrini, a Slovak with Italian roots, was born on October 6, 1975 in the central city of Banska Bystrica to a father who was a car mechanic and a mother who was a teacher.
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He said he loved cars and music and used to play the accordion as part of a dance ensemble when he was younger.
The 48-year-old bachelor was once dubbed “Slovakia's sexiest politician” by several women's magazines.
After studying finance, he worked as an economist and then as an advisor to a member of the Prime Minister's populist party, Smer SD.
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Pellegrini became a member of the party in 2006 and became finance minister in 2012. He then briefly served as Minister of Education in 2014 before being appointed Speaker of Parliament in the same year.
He became prime minister after longtime ally Fico was ousted as head of government in 2018 following the murder of journalist Jan Kusiak and his fiance.
“Slovak politics is divided between those who support the continuation of the war (between Russia and Ukraine) at all costs and those who demand the start of peace negotiations,” Pellegrini said.
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“I belong to the latter,” he told AFP.
Pellegrini speaks Slovak, Russian, German and English.
He is a licensed single-engine light aircraft pilot.
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In 2015, he posted a video shot from inside a fighter jet on Facebook with the caption: “I got an amazing birthday present.”
Ivan Korcok is running as an independent but has the support of opposition parties who believe that Pellegrini's victory will lead to presidential pardons for government allies convicted of bribery and corruption.
The staunchly pro-Ukrainian politician enjoys particular support from Progressive Slovakia, the party co-founded by outgoing President Caputova.
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Korcok, a 59-year-old diplomat, has represented Slovakia in the United States, Germany and Switzerland.
When he returned from Washington in March 2020, he was absent from his appointment as foreign minister due to quarantine measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. He held the position until 2022.
During the coronavirus crisis, Korcok had publicly expressed concerns about government policy when then-Prime Minister Igor Matovich ordered 200,000 Sputnik V vaccines from Russia in 2021.
Mr Corcoc called vaccines a “hybrid warfare tool”.
An avid sportsman, she loved cross-country skiing and was a professional volleyball player in her youth.
He speaks Slovak, English and German.
Asked in a recent interview with Pravda how his wife and two children view his candidacy, Korcok said: “My family is not happy at all.”
He loved to ride his bicycle and said that if he became president he would visit his Austrian counterpart by bicycle.
When asked about his worst quality, he replied, “I'm impatient.” “If I tell them I want something done, I want it done right away,” he added.
As foreign minister, Korcok lost support among Slovakia's Hungarian minority after criticizing the Hungarian government under Viktor Orbán.
However, he is very popular among young people. According to a recent poll, if high school students could vote, Colcok would be their first choice.
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