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TEHRAN, Mar 16 - An anti-corruption campaigner with no previous experience of public office is set to win Slovakia's presidential election on Saturday as voters spurn the ruling Smer party one year after the murder of a journalist sparked mass protests.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The killing of Jan Kuciak, who reported on fraud cases involving politically connected businessmen, triggered the biggest anti-government protests in Slovakia since communism ended three decades earlier. It also led to the resignation of then prime minister, Smer leader Robert Fico.
Fico's government remains in power, but Smer's popularity has slumped. On the first anniversary of Kuciak's murder, thousands of Slovaks rallied to protest against what they see as a lack of government action on the corruption he uncovered.
Polling stations opened at 7am local time (0600 GMT) across the European Union and NATO member country of 5.4 million people, and will close at 10pm. The two best performing candidates will face a run-off on March 30.
Polls show the Smer-backed candidate, EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic, trailing far behind political newcomer and lawyer Zuzana Caputova, whose endorsement by the protest movement has catapulted her to frontrunner position with support at more than 50 percent.
If elected, the 45-year-old Caputova, a pro-European liberal who belongs to the small, non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia party, will stand out among the populist nationalist politicians on the rise across much of Europe.
"This election is the first opportunity for change after last year's murder and subsequent public calls for decency, justice and fairness," Caputova said in a Reuters interview on March 4.
Source: Reuters
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