On April 7th, the presidential elections in Slovakia took place. The winning speaker of the parliament and leader of the party “Hlas – sociálna demokracia”, which translates as “Voice – Social Democracy” Peter Pelligrini promises to keep Slovakia “on the side of peace, not war”. According to the ballot count, he got 53.12% of the votes, which is approximately 1,409,255 voters. Opponent Ivan Korchok got 46.87%, which is approximately 1,243,709 citizens. The interesting thing is that after the first round on March 23rd, Korchok received 42.51% and Pelligrini received 37.02%.
Pelligrini who is 48 years old, leads the left-wing party “Hlas”. In the 2023 elections, the party took third place. The current term of the Slovak President is five years. During the campaign, Pelligrini initially opposed arms supplies to Kiev and Ukraine joining NATO. He stated, “If someone thinks that a nuclear power like Russia can be defeated militarily without catastrophe, I don’t think so”.
The losing candidate, Ivan Korchok, who holds liberal view, is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and a diplomat. After his defeat, he said that Pelligrini had benefited from “spreading fear and hatred”. He also stated: “You can win a campaign by turning the other candidate into a supporter of war. I won’t forget that.”
