Carmen Valero Berlin

Berlin

Updated Sunday, April 7, 2024-13:43

  • EU Slovakia, another crack for the rule of law in the European Union

The former Slovak Prime Minister,

Peter Pellegrini

, has prevailed in the second round over the former Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Ivan Korcok

, in a presidential election that has become a plebiscite on nationalist Executive politics and a referendum on Ukraine at the same time. The reaction that best captures what has been the essence of these elections was that of the loser. Korcok confessed to feeling "great disappointment" about the results, and had harsh words with his rival, who accused him during the campaign of wanting to send Slovak soldiers to Ukraine. "He has made me a candidate for war and I will not forget that," said the experienced diplomat, who after learning the verdict of the polls repeated that his rival dedicated herself to "spreading lies and hatred." "Part of patriotism must be that we tell each other the truth," said Korcok, who had promised that, as head of state, he would act as a counterweight to Prime Minister Robert Fico, whom he accuses of violating the rule of law.

By proclaiming his victory, Pellegrini confirmed what his opponents feared. "I will be a president who respects the international framework, the interests of the country and its citizens, and who will do everything possible to support the Government to fulfill its program," he said. And although the Head of State must act or at least appear independent, he declared that "we have sent a signal that the coalition remains stable."

Without a president to serve as a counterweight to the Government, the reforms undertaken could make Slovakia

a second Hungary

. Fico, in power since last fall, has made a radical shift in foreign policy, stopping supplying weapons to Ukraine and asserting that kyiv is partly responsible for the war caused by the Russian attack, and advocating negotiations with Russia. to end the conflict, even without guarantees of territorial integrity for Ukrainians.

In addition, it has undertaken controversial measures, such as the elimination of the

Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office

, and others that recall the policies of control of the media and NGOs carried out by the Government of the ultranationalist Viktor Orban in Hungary, which has generated criticism. within the EU for violating the rule of law. At the request of the outgoing president, Zuzana Caputová, the Constitutional Court has temporarily suspended some parts of the reform. Fico and his government have also recently been accused of attacking press freedom.

Although a close result was expected based on pre-election polls and the results of the first and final rounds, Pellegrini won the presidential race by a margin of more than six percentage points, which amounted to more than 165,000 votes. "All the models for the second round favored Pellegrini in case of a higher participation. In favor of Korcok, the participation would have been only up to 48%, all above the record of the opposing candidate. So what we had been confirmed planned," says Jakub Hankovský, director of the IPSOS polling agency.

Turnout was 61%, the second highest since 1999, when

Rudolf Schuster

won the election with 75% turnout. This also makes Pellegrini's total of almost one million four hundred thousand votes the highest since Schuster's election. "Since then, this is a record of votes for both the winner and the loser of the final of the presidential elections. It demonstrates the great legitimacy of the electoral result and confirms that both parties were able to mobilize their electorate with great success. "We know that Pellegrini has more followers in society. The question was who would mobilize better," Hankovsky declared.

The effect of the call to the polls for the opponents has been the war in Ukraine and the extent to which Slovakia must allow itself to be dragged by the European Union and NATO. Korcok's campaign, a convinced pro-European, did not put limits on the obligations of the allies and those of Slovakia as a partner. It did not take much for Pellegrini to turn his adversary into the war candidate, while he presented himself as the candidate who will do everything possible to prevent Slovakia from becoming an active part of the neighboring country's military conflict.

"Yes, Ivan Korcok accused Pellegrini of mobilization based on the emotion of fear, but what counts is that this caused these elections to have a high participation and legitimacy and that the candidates' supporters came out to express their will," says Hankovský .

In his first reaction after winning the elections, Pellegrini expressly thanked the head of the Hungarian nationalist Alliance party, Krisztián Forró, for his support. In every southern district, Pellegrini won by six percentage points or more; in Komárno, for example, by tens of percentage points. But only a more detailed analysis of the election results will show whether Forró's support worked and to what extent Hungarian voters voted for Pellegrini. "With such a high participation, the influence of this group is becoming less and less, so I would not overestimate it," says the analyst.

The unknown was how Stefan Harabin's voters would behave, and whether Pellegrini would manage to mobilize the majority of his supporters, permeable to anti-NATO messages and pro-Russian rhetoric. The result showed that

war fear tactics

and support for the coalition worked in the end.

What is less talked about so far is the activity of former Prime Minister Igor Matovi, former Minister of Finance, in favor of Ivan Korcok "In the end, Matovi's unequivocal support and his strident anti-campaign against Pellegrini did not work. Today they are too much few voters trust Matovi for his activities to have a significant impact," Hankovský assesses.

Pellegrini won in 60 of the 79 districts and in all but Bratislava. Instead, Korcok scored in Dolny Kubin, Poprad, Preov and the urban districts of the eastern metropolis of Koice, for example, in addition to the western districts.

The electoral map shows a Slovakia divided in two

and that division will not disappear after the elections.