BRATISLAVA, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Slovaks vote for a new president on Saturday with the odds-on-favourite an outsider whose anti-corruption stance has resonated with voters, still reeling from the fallout from an
investigative journalist’s murder.
An environmental lawyer with no experience in political office, Zuzana
Caputova could become the EU and eurozone member’s first female president.
Her rival in the run-off election is the ruling party’s candidate, EU energy
commissioner and career diplomat Maros Sefcovic.
Two recent opinion polls give at least 60 percent of the vote to Caputova,
who ran on a slogan of “Stand up to evil”, saying that “People are
calling for change” in the central European country of 5.4 million.
She was among tens of thousands of anti-government protesters who rallied last year after journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee were gunned down as he was preparing to publish a story on alleged ties between Slovak politicians and the Italian mafia.
Then prime minister Robert Fico was forced to resign but remains the
leader of the populist-left Smer-SD party and is a close ally of the current
premier.
Five people have been charged in the Kuciak case, including a millionaire
businessman with alleged ties to Smer-SD who is suspected of having ordered the murders.
The European Parliament urged Slovakia on Thursday to continue to
investigate, “including any possible political links to the crimes.”
MEPs voiced “concern about the allegations of corruption, conflicts of
interest, impunity and revolving doors in Slovakia’s circles of power.”
The Smer-SD has backed Sefcovic, support that appears not to have served
him well, as the 52-year-old took just 19 percent of the vote in the first
round of the election compared with Caputova’s 40 percent.
Though the office is largely ceremonial, the president ratifies
international treaties, appoints top judges and is commander-in-chief of the
armed forces. The head of state can also veto laws passed by parliament.
Polling stations open at 0600 GMT and close at 2100 GMT. Provisional
results are expected around midnight.
The new president will be sworn in on June 15. — NNN-AGENCIES