11 names have applied for the Slovak presidential campaign. Ex-ministers Peter Pellegrini and Ivan Korčok lead with a large lead in preferences. The former promised the support of Smér-SD Robert Fic, Korčok was supported by outgoing president Zuzana Čaputová. Among the other candidates are disinformer Štefan Harabin, Marian Kotleba, Igor Matovič, Andrej Danko, as well as diplomat Ján Kubiš or conservative Patrik Dubovský.
“It is a relatively wide range of candidates, and a very diverse mix. Some are really serious candidates, some are in numbers, some are completely bizarre, strange personalities,” said Blesk I am reporting by political scientist and expert on Slovakia Matúš Halás.
According to him, Peter Pellegrini’s candidacy was to be expected. “This has been talked about since the parliamentary elections last year, that something like this will happen and that it is quite possible that, in addition to Hlas (Pellegrini’s party – editor’s note), he will also be supported by Smér,” said Halás. After all, the candidacy for president should have motivated Pellegrini to join the coalition with Smér. “There was some agreement,” Halás speculated.
Pellegrini and Korčok became the hottest favorites. “There are three serious candidates who one can imagine would be able to hold the position of president at a serious level,” said Halás, adding that in addition to the two mentioned, there is also Ján Kubiš, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs. “But polls show that in reality it will be a fight between Korčok and Pellegrini and we will actually just have to wait for the second round,” he added.
Both candidates are quite different from each other. “If we were to say it metaphorically, Mr. Pellegrini has a spinal structure like a money changer and his value compass spins like a turbine in Temelín… It would probably be something like the former president Gašparovič. He got along relatively well with the former governments of Robert Fico, and Mr. Pellegrini’s eventual success would probably be very close to what Mr. Gašparovič’s tenure looked like.” he communicated.
“If Mr. Korčok were to become president, I think that the functioning of that office would be very similar to how the current president Čaputová functioned and still functions. If Korčok wins, it will be something like President Čaputová, if Pellegrini wins, it will be something like former President Gašparovič,” summarized Halás.
Čaputová leaving and no female candidate
Zuzana Čaputová announced that she would no longer be a candidate in June of last year. “The Czech Republic was probably the biggest fan club of Slovak President Čaputová. But I don’t think the relationship between two countries, people and societies is based on who holds the presidency,” replied Halás to the question of whether the person of the new Slovak president will be reflected in relations with the Czech Republic.
“I think that the relations between those companies and countries are on a much deeper level, regardless of who is in the presidential palace at the moment, although of course it can help in many things,” he added. Čaputová has very good relations with both the Czech Republic and President Petr Pavlo. These were already outlined by the fact that shortly after Pavlo’s election, she arrived directly at his election staff.
There is no woman among the candidates for the new Slovak head of state this time. Čaputová herself had to face many insults in her position. However, Halás did not see the trend behind the fact that women do not want to run for office in Slovakia. “At the moment it almost seems like it’s very much a matter of chance. Of course, it’s a shame, the more women hold leading positions in politics and everywhere, the better it will look. When there is no female candidate, it will reach a stage where we have really bizarre candidates, such as Mr. Matovič, Mr. Danko, such as Mr. Kotleba,” stated
According to him, the latter have nothing to do with the presidential election. Nevertheless, for example, Kotleb’s candidacy could be expected, according to him. “He is doing PR through that road, the presidential election. And the same applies to Mr. Danko,” he said, adding that it was PR for himself and his party.
“But unfortunately, he’s a person who, when I push it, has trouble stringing together two coherent sentences. In the 19th century he would have been a village jester who wouldn’t have gone beyond his village, and he is currently running for president. And Mr. Matovič, unfortunately, it seems that he does not have the right psychiatric treatment. So this is again an expression of how Slovak politics works, but I don’t know if there is any country in Europe or the world where it works perfectly. So it’s a combination of serious candidates and the bizarre,” he added.
Emotions will escalate, the odds are even
However, according to him, the distribution of forces is to some extent similar to the last election, when Zuzana Čaputová was a candidate. “There will be one opposition candidate, that will be Mr. Korčok, then there will be a key candidate of the coalition, let’s forget Mr. Danek, the main candidate of the coalition will be Mr. Pellegrini. It was the same in the previous elections, when the main candidate of the SMĚR party was the current European Commissioner, Mr. Ševčovič, and the strongest opposition candidate was Ms. Čaputová,” the political scientist compared the two situations.
“Though I have to say, in the previous elections, the main opposition candidate became more specific only during the campaign and just before the first round. It was not entirely clear whether Ms. Čaputová or Mr. Mistrík would be the main opposition candidate. And both expressed at the time that the one who will have more preferences, the other will give up his candidacy and support him in favor of that,” he said. “Now it’s quite clear that it will really be a wait for the second round, where Pellegrini and Korčok will be,” he said. According to him, the chances of both are balanced and emotions will escalate even more.
“In my opinion, we are not even at the beginning. It will mainly be about Mr. Pellegrini’s rivalry with Mr. Korčok,” he said. In addition to throwing dirt at each other, it is also expected that Danko will also have a lot to say about his coalition colleague Pellegrini.
