“Well done!”
Peter Pellegrini (HLAS-SD, catch-all), the favorite of Prime Minister Robert Fico (SMER-SD, left-wing populist), won the second round of Slovakia’s presidential election on April 6, 2024. He won 53.12% of the vote against opposition candidate Ivan Korčok (independent). The vote thus confirms the country’s support for the authoritarian government at the helm since October 2023.
Pellegrini, who served as Prime Minister after Fico’s resignation in 2018, worked with the Slovak leader for many years before – briefly – positioning himself as his opposition when he created his own party. Taking a pro-Kremlin line like Fico, he presented himself as the “candidate of peace”, in a country where the war in Ukraine had a strong influence on the election campaign. For some, Pellegrini’s victory reinforces “pro-Russian forces” in Central Europe – even if the office of president in Slovakia is essentially symbolic.
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