The current speaker of the parliament, Peter Pellegrini, who is the candidate of the ruling coalition for president of Slovakia, won the runoff of the presidential vote, the world agencies reported, referring to the almost complete results of the vote.
With 99.8 percent of ballots counted, Pellegrini received 53.20 percent to 46.80 percent for his pro-European opponent Ivan Korčok, according to data released by the Slovak Statistical Office. Analysts expected a smaller difference between the two contenders, but these predictions were not justified.
"It is a great satisfaction," Pellegrini said in a speech to his supporters. "I want to be a president who will protect the national interests of Slovakia,", he stressed.
Pellegrini assured that he wants to do everything so that Slovakia can remain on the side of peace and not on the side of war.
Before the run-off, the analyst Tomasz Kozijaka said "If Pellegrini wins, Slovakia can follow the path of Orban".
Slovak opposition presidential candidate Ivan Korchok admitted his defeat in the vote and congratulated Pellegrini on his victory, Reuters reported.
Koroc also expressed hope that Pellegrini will be an independent president and act according to his own convictions and without receiving orders from another, thus hinting at the close ties between the future president and Prime Minister Fizo, notes AFP.
p>Korčok accused Pellegrini of a non-transparent campaign and stated: "It seems possible for a person to become president of Slovakia by spreading hatred". In doing so, he reprimanded Pellegrini's camp for portraying him during the campaign as a "war candidate" supporting Slovakia's military involvement in Ukraine.
Pellegrini is the leader of the "Voice - Social Democracy" party. He was a minister in previous Fizo governments. He even replaced him as prime minister in 2018 after Fizo was forced to resign following protests sparked by the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancee, the Associated Press recalls.
Pellegrini's party entered Fico's governing coalition formed in October. The government suspended military aid to Ukraine.
Korchok, who is Slovakia's former ambassador to the US and Germany, as well as NATO and the EU, strongly supports Slovakia's membership in these two organizations, the Associated Press notes. Korchok was also a fierce critic of the government and is categorically pro-Ukrainian, adds AFP. He stated that he does not think that Ukraine should give up part of its territory in order to achieve peace.
Fico, who is now Slovakia's prime minister, also ran for president twice, but failed. First, he was defeated by Andrei Kiska 10 years ago, and five years ago by Zuzana Chaputova, the current head of state.
Pellegrini will officially take office on June 15.