Elections in Slovakia: Who are the leading candidates, and what do they offer on relations with Ukraine?

On March 23, the first round of presidential elections took place in Slovakia. Before that, the country held parliamentary elections at the end of September 2023, which were won by the Smer party led by Prime Minister Robert Fico. 

The leader of the sociological forecasts was the former prime minister and current speaker of the National Council of Slovakia (parliament), Peter Pellegrini. 

However, former Foreign and European Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok won the first round. He received 42.51% of the vote compared to 37.02% for Pellegrini. The other candidates received less than 15% of the votes. 

The second round of national voting, expected on April 6, will determine the winner.

Back in June 2023, the current president, Zuzana Čaputová, announced that she would not run for a second term. She cited family considerations and the fact that she could not fulfil her mandate for another five years.

Čaputová made this decision against a background of considerable public confidence. For a long time, the president was the most popular politician in Slovakia. At that time, 43% of respondents trusted the head of state. The second most popular was Peter Pellegrini, supported by 36% of respondents.

Ivan Korčok was Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of Igor Matovič (2020-2021) and Slovakia's Permanent Representative to the EU, head of the country's delegation for NATO accession negotiations in 2003, and ambassador to Germany and the United States.

He announced his intention to run a month before the parliamentary elections at the end of August 2023. Zuzana Čaputová indirectly endorsed his candidacy. He is committed to the European Union, NATO and Slovakia's pro-Western foreign policy orientation.

Korčok is a self-nominated candidate, but his candidacy is supported by most opposition forces: left-liberal Progressive Slovakia and right-wing conservatives from the Freedom and Justice Party and the Christian Democratic Movement.

Peter Pellegrini is Robert Fico's coalition partner. Pellegrini is the leader of the Hlas party, which is part of a parliamentary coalition with the Smer party, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, and the Slovak National Party.

He took over as Slovakia's Prime Minister in 2018 after Robert Fico was forced to resign amid a scandal over the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová. (Kuciak was investigating tax evasion, some of which was linked to the Smer party led by Fico – ed.) 

A recent investigation by Vsquare reveals that Hungary and Russia worked together during the 2020 Slovak elections to help the Slovak government stay in power, all at the request of then-Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. 

Based on intelligence, journalists wrote that Pellegrini secretly asked Orban to help organise an official invitation to Moscow, claiming that such a visit would attract the Slovak electorate and increase his chances in the elections. The meeting took place just days before the Slovak parliamentary elections. Hungary was interested in such a meeting to influence the pragmatic cooperation of the Visegrád Group, a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. 

Ivan Korčok is in favour of supporting Ukraine in the war. 

Announcing his candidacy for president, he said: "If someone turns the foreign policy orientation around, if they (the leaders of the three parties that currently form the parliamentary coalition, including Fico and Pellegrini - ed.) say that the war in Ukraine is the work of the West, if they try to isolate Slovakia, I will oppose them." 

On the other hand, Peter Pellegrini, as a representative of the coalition led by Fico, opposes military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. However, Pellegrini says that although the current government does not support military aid for Kyiv, Slovakia will continue to fulfil the defence contracts with Ukraine signed by the previous government. 

Slovakia is a parliamentary republic, so the position of president is ceremonial. Still, they ratify international treaties, appoint senior judges and serve as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president can also veto laws passed by parliament.