Slovakia's left-wing nationalist government candidate Peter Pellegrini won Saturday's presidential election, strengthening pro-Russian Prime Minister Roberto Fico's grip on the country.
Fico, who came to power for a fourth time in October last year, has shifted the country's foreign policy in a more pro-Russian direction and launched criminal law and media reforms that have raised concerns about weakening the rule of law. .
According to results from 99.66% of precincts, Pellegrini received 53.26% of the vote, while pro-Western opposition candidate Ivan Korkok received 46.73%.
Slovakia's president has little executive power, but he can veto laws and challenge them in the Constitutional Court. They are nominating judges to the Constitutional Court, and could become key players in the political battle over the Fico reform, which would significantly ease penalties for corruption.
Mr. Fico's coalition government, which includes Mr. Pellegrini's party, has halted official arms shipments from Slovakia to Ukraine, and Mr. Fico has spoken of Western influence in the war, which has only led to Slavic nations killing each other.
Mr Pellegrini, 48, said his victory meant there was support for the government's aims and that he would not face “an opportunistic power center in the opposition” in relation to outgoing Liberal President Zuzana Caputova. Stated.
“I will be a president who supports the government's efforts to improve the lives of the people,” Pellegrini said at his campaign headquarters.
“I will do everything so that Slovakia remains forever on the side of peace and not on the side of war.”
Mr. Pellegrini portrayed Mr. Korcok as a warmonger because of his armed support for Ukraine and suggested he might bring Slovak troops into the war in the neighboring country, a charge Mr. Korcok denied.
Mr. Pellegrini is seen as a more moderate than Mr. Fico and said earlier Saturday that his selection did not mean he was rushing to make fundamental changes to foreign policy.
“This is not about the direction of our future foreign policy. We will also ensure, like other candidates, that we remain strong members of the EU and NATO,” he said, voting in Robinka, on the outskirts of the capital. I mentioned it later.
Colcoc acknowledged defeat and congratulated Pellegrini, but slammed him for spreading fear and winning.
“You can win campaigns by turning your opponent into a war candidate. I will never forget this,” Colcock said at campaign headquarters. “The deciding factor was the high turnout, and I respect that, but the deciding factor was fear… the spread of fear and hatred.”
Korkok, like Kiev's Western allies, had argued that cutting off supplies to Ukraine would lead to Russian victory, not peace.
Mr. Korcok, 60, an independent, served as Slovakia's special envoy to the EU and then as ambassador to the United States before taking up the post of foreign affairs in the centre-right government from 2021 to 2022.
At the time, Slovakia was a loyal ally of Ukraine, providing the country with air defense and fighter jets.
Mr. Pellegrini, who currently heads the parliament, is a longtime ally of Mr. Fico, who was forced to resign amid public protests against corruption following the murder of an investigative journalist in 2018, and Mr. Pellegrini chose him as prime minister.
He then split from Fico and founded his own party, Hlas (Voice), which is more centrist and liberal than Fico's populist left-wing SMER-SSD, but he came to power with Fico and the nationalist SNS in October last year. Established.
