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Moderate centrist politician Peter Pellegrini was confirmed the winner of Slovakia’s Presidential elections held on Saturday. The announcement was greeted with a sigh of relief from representatives of Hungary’s conservative government, who feared that Pellegrini’s progressive-liberal opponent, known for his anti-Hungarian outbursts, Ivan Korcok, could win the neighboring country’s presidency.
Pellegrini, a coalition partner of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s governing nationalists (SMER-SD), received 53.1% of the vote against Korcok’s 46.88%. Although the new president-elect’s political positions and ideological profile are largely undefined, he is expected to have a constructive relationship towards Slovakia’s government that includes his own social democrats, HLAS-SD.
It is widely understood that the international community expected Ivan Korcok’s role as a president to be a counter-weight to Robert Fico’s government, paralyzing its work with presidential objections and vetos, as was the practice during the term of the ongoing progressivist Slovak president, Zuzana Caputová. They were both candidates for the far-left Progressive Slovakia party, and were accused by observers on the conservative side to be entirely subservient to the will of the dominant European radical left, as well as to the Biden-administration’s geopolitical goals in Central-Europe.
Photo: Facebook Peter Pellegrini
The international mainstream press has already attacked Peter Pellegrini with accusations of being a “pro-Putin candidate” and under the influence of Russian propaganda simply because of his pledge to guide Slovakia in a more neutral stance towards the war in Ukraine. Germany, Slovakia’s most important trade and business partner, is expected to put enormous pressure both on the Robert Fico government in Bratislava, as well as the newly elected president, to make sure that Slovakia stays in line with the EU-s stance on arming and financing Ukraine in its war with Russia, reported the Die Welt. However, Peter Pellegrini had pledged to do his utmost to keep his country out of direct involvement in the war, which had earned him accusations of being pro-Russian by the Western liberal media.
Members of the Hungarian government and President Tamás Sulyok were among the first to congratulate president-elect Pellegrini. In his X-message the new Hungarian president had emphasized the results of the Slovakian elections as an opportunity to strengthen the Visegrad 4 (Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Hungary) regional cooperation.
Congratulations to @PellegriniP_ on his election as new President of the Republic of #Slovakia.
Looking forward to collaborating and strenghtening our and #V4 relations. pic.twitter.com/cMT6RW2Sn1— Dr. Tamás Sulyok (@DrTamasSulyok) April 7, 2024
A significant attention was paid in the international press to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s own message to Peter Pellegrini, in which he called the victory of the centrist candidate a “big win for the people of Slovakia and a big win for the advocates of peace all around Europe!” The first part of Viktor Orbán’s message is an allusion to the understanding that Pellegrini was the candidate for national forces, while his opponent Ivan Korcok was championed by the Euro-Atlantic, globalist alliance. The second part of the message indicates that the Hungarian Prime Minister interprets the victory of the Slovak government-supported candidate as a victory for those who prefer a resolution to the war in Ukraine through negotiations, rather than arming Ukraine, or NATO involvement in the war.
My heartfelt congratulations to @PellegriniP_ on his overwhelming victory at the Slovak presidential elections. A big win for the people of and a big win for the advocates of #peace all around Europe! Blahoželáme, pán prezident!
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) April 7, 2024
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, on the other hand, emphasized Pellegrini’s victory as a win for sovereigntist forces over the globalist candidate. He also emphasized the fact that the new Slovak president-elect is a politician in favor of peace negotiations in Ukraine.
The Hungarian minority’s party in Slovakia, the Hungarian Alliance, had endorsed Pellegrini as their preferred candidate. According to preliminary measurements, the majority of the 400.000-strong Hungarian minority in Slovakia had voted for the president-elect, despite the fact that Korcok had actively campaigned in Hungarian-inhabited regions of the country.
Featured Image: Facebook Peter Pellegrini