Peter Pellegrini won the presidential election in Slovakia with the votes of the Hungarians

In the end, it was decided by a larger margin than expected that Peter Pellegrini of the government party will become the next president of the Republic of Slovakia, who owes his election partly to the Slovak Hungarians.

The future head of state declared that he would help the government implement its program, but promised that it would not have uncritical admirers. This gives Robert Fico's government an ally at the head of the state, which can help it achieve its goals.

The second round of the Slovak presidential election was held on April 6, where the voters could decide between the liberal Ivan Korcok, who won an unexpected victory in the first round and ran as an independent, and the pro-government Hlas, who is also the speaker of the parliament, Peter Pellegrini, who would inherit the presidency after one term. the place of Zuzana Caputova, who is leaving politics, in the Grassalkovich Palace.

After 100% processing of the results, it can be stated that

The next president of the Republic of Slovakia will be Peter Pellegrini.

53.12 percent of the voters circled the speaker of the Smer-Hlas-SNS government led by social populist Robert Fico, who campaigned with anti-war messages, while Korcok, a career diplomat and foreign minister in the Matovic government, won 46.87 percent of the votes.

Pellegrini will become a pro-government president

In his victory speech, Pellegrini thanked his voters for their trust, highlighting the minorities living in Slovakia. As he said, he highly values ​​their vote and wants to be a president who will protect and protect the interests of the people, and then he repeated the main message of his campaign and said:

I will do my best to make Slovakia stand on the side of peace and not war, and for that they can criticize

said the elected president of the republic, who declared that his victory was satisfaction for the attacks he received during the campaign. At the same time, he underlined that, despite his election as president, the government coalition remains strong, of which his party, Hlas, remains a member.

Regarding his appointment as head of state, he said that the government need not worry that his future office would cause him harm, he promised that he would support the government in fulfilling its program, the creation of which he also participated. However, he emphasized

I will not be an uncritical admirer of the steering neck where I come from. I can promise you that I will always be on Slovakia's side

- said Pellegrini, whose victory speech he delivered on stage in the company of Prime Minister Robert Fico and former President of the Republic Ivan Gasparovic, who also spoke and congratulated him on his victory - Fico evaluated the results in such a way that the voters realized that Slovakia "is being destroyed by the liberal media, activists, government organizations and the progressives'.

The Slovak Hungarians had the final say

The forecasts expected very close results, as Korcok's campaign gained momentum after the first round, and due to the closeness to the winner, three of the five public opinion polls that were carried out rated him as the winner - at the same time, with the exception of one poll carried out right after the first round, all of them were within the margin of error. the candidates were with each other, so it was really unpredictable which candidate would be happy at the end of the day.

It ended up being Pellegrini. Despite his second place, Pellegrini could basically expect the battle between the two from a better position, since the Hlas president had more reserves among the voters - on March 23, the turnouts were below average in the districts where he broke away from Smer in 2020 due to his internal conflict with Fico, and a politician who founded a new party won, while where Korcok won the most votes, the turnout was above average.

This time, Pellegrini succeeded in mobilizing better, despite the mistakes and sometimes dullness of his campaign, since after 51.9 percent in the first round, 61.2 percent of the voters went to vote this time, which is the second time after the presidential election in 1999, which caused the final downfall of the authoritarian Ivan Meciar. means the highest participation - then 75.45 percent of voters went to the polls.

Pellegrini's victory was partially due to the votes of the Slovak Hungarians, and on the other hand to the votes of Stefan Harabint's supporters, who placed third in the first round, but he was also able to increase the number of his voters.

On the one hand, in the districts that are the base of the current governing parties, the turnout was much higher than in the first round, so this time the Smer and Hlas voters used the good time on Saturday not only to rest, but also for the presidential election.

In addition, the two voter groups mentioned above, the Hungarians in Slovakia and the Harabin supporters, also supported him in the majority, which resulted in a total of more than half a million votes more than in the first round - interestingly, in last year's parliamentary election, they did not vote so much for Smer, which formed the government coalition, To Hlas and SNS, as now to Pellegrini.

What comes next?

In Slovakia, the president of the republic does not have very strong power, as he performs mostly ceremonial functions, but we cannot speak of an empty, insignificant position either. Despite his few powers, the word of the head of state, who is officially above party politics, is important, and when he addresses the public, he can sometimes be a counterweight to the executive power.

Although it is believed that even Korcok would not have been able to prevent Fico from transforming Slovakian public television - which was postponed due to the presidential election - and from his plans to regulate the operation of civil society organizations even more strictly than in Hungary - in fact limiting them,

but with the election of Pellegrini, it is now certain that Fico does not have to worry that the head of state will oppose too much,

since all this was promised by the future head of state himself during the evening, although he added that he would not be an uncritical supporter of the government.

By the way, Fico won twice by electing Pellegrini: not only will a candidate who campaigned with his messages take the place of the liberal Caputova in the position of president of the republic, who supports him in his program, but the current result may essentially involve the absorption of Hlas, which broke away from Smer in 2020.

Although the party founded by Pellegrini will continue to exist, with the departure of their founder and president - Pellegrini must now step down as the elected head of state and hand over the leadership of the party to someone else -

it is questionable how well Hlas will be able to distinguish itself from Smer, so that the Fico family can once again dominate the left side of Slovak politics.

The mandate of the current president, Caputova, will expire on June 15, and Pellegrini will be installed as the sixth president of the Republic of Slovakia on the same day.

Index

Featured image: Slovak Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini, leader of the Voice (Hlas-SD) party, presidential candidate speaks to the press upon his arrival at the event awaiting the results following the second round of the presidential election in Bratislava on April 6, 2024. MTI/EPA/Martin Divisek