BRATISLAVA - Riding a wave of public
fury over corruption, liberal lawyer Zuzana Caputova won
Slovakia's presidential election on Saturday, bucking a trend
that has seen populist, anti-European Union politicians make
gains across the continent.
Corruption and change in political style were the main
themes ahead of the run-off vote, which took place a year after
journalist Jan Kuciak, who investigated high-profile fraud
cases, and his fiancée were murdered at their home.
Caputova, a pro-EU political novice who will be the euro
zone country's first female president, had 58.3% of the
votes after results from 98.1% of voting districts were
counted, ahead of European commissioner Maros Sefcovic who took
41.7%.
Sefcovic, a respected diplomat who is also pro-EU, is backed
by the ruling party Smer, the largest grouping in parliament
that has dominated Slovak politics since 2006.
Caputova, who was the front runner having won the first
round more than 20 percentage points ahead of Sefcovic,
campaigned to end what she calls the capture of the state "by
people pulling strings from behind", a message that opinion
polls show resonates with younger, educated voters.
The 45-year old member of a liberal non-parliamentary
Progressive Slovakia party -- which she pledged to leave if
elected -- has been endorsed by opposition parties and a junior
party in the ruling coalition that represents the ethnic
Hungarian minority, as well as outgoing President Andrej Kiska.
Caputova started her acceptance speech by thanking voters in
Slovak, as well as in the Hungarian, Czech, Roma and Ruthenian
languages, turning to all main minority groups.
"I am happy not just for the result but mainly that it is
possible not to succumb to populism, to tell the truth, to raise
interest without aggressive vocabulary," she told a crowd of
supporters.
"This started in the local election last year, was confirmed
in the presidential election, and I believe the European
(parliamentary election in May) will confirm it as well."
'SLOVAKIA'S ERIN BROCKOVICH'
Slovakia's president wields little day-to-day power but
appoints prime ministers and can veto appointments of senior
prosecutors and judges.
Five people have been charged with the murders of Kuciak and
his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, including businessman Marian
Kocner, who was investigated by Kuciak, and who has become a
symbol of perceived impunity after more than a decade of rule by
Smer. Kocner denies any wrongdoing.
The killings ignited the biggest protests in Slovakia's
post-communist history and forced the resignation of Smer leader
Robert Fico as prime minister last year.
Caputova had waged a 14-year fight with a company Kocner
represented that wanted to build an illegal landfill in her home
town. She eventually won the case, earning her the nickname
"Slovakia's Erin Brockovich", after the American
environmentalist portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 film.
Caputova's victory complicates Fico's plan to leave politics
by becoming head of the Constitutional Court - a position vetted
by the president.
It may give a boost to opposition parties looking to replace
Smer, still the most popular party, in next year's general
election.
But political analysts have said a socially liberal
president will also mobilise Smer and anti-system voters, a
fight already foreshadowed by Fico this week when he called
liberals "people without values".
Fico's Smer is a social democrat party but has also taken
socially conservative positions. A row with the president could
make Fico push the country closer to eurosceptic and socially
conservative leaders in neighbouring Hungary and Poland.
There was an indication of that this week when Smer teamed
up with the centre-right Slovak National party, the far-right
People's Party-Our Slovakia and the populist We Are Family
movement to halt ratification of a European treaty designed to
combat violence against women.