Who will be Slovakia's new president?
Voters in Slovakia will go to the polls to elect a new head of state on Saturday after President Zuzana Čaputová announced she won't run for a second term. The Social Democrat parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini, who was a member of Robert Fico's Smer until he founded his own party, and liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korčok are the main contenders for the post.
Pellegrini in the lead
Pellegrini was more convincing in this first major TV debate, Reflex observes:
“Above all, Pellegrini managed to refute the accusations that he is merely a lackey of the self-aggrandising Prime Minister Robert Fico. Even on issues where he could have really scored points - aid for Ukraine, relations with Russia, the government's controversial proposal for a new criminal law and the planned nationalisation of the public media - the former diplomat Korčok was also unable to take the lead. ... First and foremost, Pellegrini proved himself to be a calm force in an otherwise very eccentric government.”
All bets off
Aktuality.sk sums up the duel between the two favourites:
“Pellegrini is a political matador who has dozens, perhaps hundreds of debates behind him. Including very unpleasant ones. And of course he knows that his signature smile has helped him and continues to help him. So he smiled and nodded his head the whole time. ... The career diplomat and former foreign minister Korčok is a good speaker, but you could see he was nervous. Not because he was afraid of Pellegrini. It was obviously due to the atmosphere and significance of the first live broadcast of the presidential debate. ... And because he lacked the experience of similar confrontations. ... The score is 1:1 after the first round, so nothing has been decided yet.”