Slovak presidential election, 2014

Slovak presidential election, 2014
Slovakia
15 March and 29 March 2014
 
Nominee Andrej Kiska Robert Fico
Party Independent Smer–SD
Popular vote 1,307,065 893,841
Percentage 59.38% 40.61%

Second round results by districts:

 Andrej Kiska  Robert Fico

President before election

Ivan Gašparovič
Nonpartisan

 Elected President

Andrej Kiska
Independent

Second round results by regions:
 Andrej Kiska  Robert Fico

Presidential elections were held in Slovakia on 15 March 2014, with a second round on 29 March 2014.[1]

After a first round, in which no candidate secured majority, Robert Fico and Andrej Kiska qualified to second round. On 29 March 2014, Kiska won the second round of the elections after securing 59.38% of popular vote, compared to Fico 40.61%.[2]

Kiska succeeded incumbent Ivan Gašparovič, who was unable to run due to term limits established by the Constitution.[3]

First round

Candidates

All candidates who wished to contest the presidency were required to collect no less than 15.000 individual signatures in order to qualify for the race. In addition they had to officially submit their candidacy to the election commission in writing no later than 9 January 2014. At least one would-be candidate, Leonid Chovanec, a citizen from Košice who intended to run as an independent candidate, gave up his candidacy on January 6 citing "unequal conditions for people in their access to the candidacy for the post of president”. He did not manage to collect the 15,000 signatures to support his presidential bid.[4] On January 9, Speaker of parliament Pavol Paska officially announced that the following candidates had been approved.[5]

Withdrawn candidates

Campaign

The political right was fragmented; the People’s Platform (an alliance of three right-wing parties)[7] failed to agree on a common candidate. Christian Democratic Movement and Most-Hid announced that they supported Pavol Hrušovský, but the third party, Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ-DS) originally refused to agree.[8] According to multiple sources, SDKÚ would have preferred former Prime Minister Iveta Radičová as their candidate, however, she made clear that she did not want to run for president again.[8][9] Later, after Fico announced its candidacy, SDKÚ-DS eventually decided to support Hrušovský. Shortly before first round of elections some members of SDKÚ-DS and Most-Híd suggested their supporters should choose different candidate in the upcoming elections, following polls which gave Hrušovský only small chance of progressing to second round.

Robert Fico

The ruling Smer party selected incumbent Prime Minister Robert Fico as its official candidate. According to opinion polls, Fico dominated his opponents, who were divided, and he would advance to the second round with a double digit lead.[10] In addition, polls showed that he was most likely to win the presidential election.[11] However, his party would have had to replace him as PM and party leader, meaning that Smer would have had to produce a popular and credible leader to follow Fico.[7] As early as February, Fico was endorsed by the National trade union center when The Confederation of Labour Unions (KOZ) officially called upon its members to vote for Prime Minister Robert Fico.[12]

Andrej Kiska

Andrej Kiska was the first candidate to officially announce his presidential candidacy and his billboards appeared around Slovakia long before the names of his competitors were known. He was officially running as an independent candidate and had no political background whatsoever. Prior to the first round Kiskas campaign mostly stressed his independence, including his financial independence, which mean that he didn't have to report to any political parties. Furthermore, he promoted his lack of political involvement as one of his strengths, while his website featured the slogan “The First Independent President”.[13] Eventually, Andrej Kiska won the election on 29 March with nearly 60% of the popular vote, becoming the first president in the history of Slovak republic never to have been a member of the Communist Party, nor any other political party.[7]

Radoslav Procházka

The young constitutional lawyer Prochazka, who campaigned as the conservative candidate, was formerly a member with the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), but ran as an independent. His campaign mainly targeted the large catholic population, with issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and traditional family values. His campaign also stressed his youth as a strength, as well as his background as a constitutional lawyer, with his official slogans reading: "A young president? Why not!" (Slovak: Mladý prezident? Prečo nie!) and "Strong president. I will protect your rights!" (Slovak: Silný prezident. Budem chrániť vaše práva!)

Peter Osuský

The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party announced on 11 June 2013 that Peter Osuský would be their candidate for the presidency. Due to poor results in polls, Osuský decided to pull off his candidature. SaS reacted by supporting Radoslav Procházka for upcoming first round of elections.[14]

Opinion polls

Date Agency Ján Čarnogurský Robert Fico Pavol Hrušovský Andrej Kiska Milan Kňažko Peter Osuský Radoslav Procházka
1/2013 MVK 9.5 % 29.0 % 11.7 % 5.8 % – – –
5/2013 MVK 17.2 % 41.9 % – 13.3 % – 2.8 % 16.4 %
7/2013 MVK 11.2 % 43.6 % 15.0 % 11.8 % – 2.8 % 15.6 %
7/2013 Focus 5.2 % 36.3 % 13.4 % 18.9 % – 1.1 % 5.8 %
7/2013 Polis 11.8 % 44.6 % 15.2 % 9.6 % – 4.0 % 14.8 %
9/2013 Focus 8.8 % 38.4 % 17.3 % 20.0 % – 3.8 % 11.7 %
10/2013 MVK 8.9 % 37.9 % 17.6 % 13.2 % – 4.4 % 18.1 %
10/2013 Focus 7.7 % 37.8 % 17.9 % 17.6 % – 3.9 % 15.1 %
11/2013 Focus 5.9% 36.9% 15.6% 17.9% 7.2% 4.2% 10.3%
2/2014 Focus[15] 1.7% 37.0% 7.3% 20.4% 12.9% – 10.3%
3/2014 Polis[16] 2.5% 37.8% 5.2% 26.4% 11.2% – 8.1%
3/2014 Election 0.6% 28.0% 3.3% 24.0% 12.9% - 21.2%

Second round

During the second round all independent candidates and some right-wing parties supported Kiska. These candidates secured more than 60% votes including the ones received by Kiska in first round. Fico secured 12% more votes than in the first round. High turn out in second round helped Kiska defeat Fico by 20 points.

Campaign

The second round of the election, which pitted Robert Fico against Andrej Kiska, saw the candidates engage in a series of televised presidential debates. Fico repeatedly accused Kiska of having links to the Church of Scientology, but stopped short of calling him a member. Kiska however, confirmed his catholic faith, and filed criminal charges against Fico.[17] All the defeated candidates from the first round subsequently backed Kiska, while international social-democrats such as French president Francois Hollande and Speaker of the European Parliament Martin Schultz endorsed Fico.[18]

Results

First round results by regions:
 Robert Fico
 Andrej Kiska
First round results by districts:
 Robert Fico
 Andrej Kiska
 Radoslav Procházka
 Milan Kňažko
 Gyula Bárdos
 Summary of the 15 March and 29 March 2014 Slovak presidential election results
Candidates and nominating parties 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Robert Fico (Smer) 531,919 28.0 893,841 40.61
Andrej Kiska (Independent) 455,996 24.0 1,307,065 59.38
Radoslav Procházka (Independent) 403,548 21.2  
Milan Kňažko (Independent) 244,401 12.9
Gyula Bárdos (SMK–MKP) 97,035 5.1
Pavol Hrušovský (KDH, SDKÚ–DS, Most) 63,298 3.3
Helena Mezenská (Independent) 45,180 2.4
Ján Jurišta (KSS) 12,209 0.6
Ján Čarnogurský (Independent) 12,207 0.6
Viliam Fischer (Independent) 9,514 0.5
Jozef Behýl (Independent) 9,126 0.5
Milan Melník (Independent]) 7,678 0.4
Jozef Šimko (SMS) 4,674 0.2
Stanislav Martinčko (KOS) 2,547 0.1
Total (turnout 43.40% / 50.48% ) 1,899,332 100.00 2,200,906 100.00
Sources: statistics.sk

References

  1. ↑ Zuzana Vilikovská, ed. (19 December 2013). "Paška announces presidential election for March 15". The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Výsledky volieb 2014 - Zistite kto bude novým prezidentom". www.sme.sk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "An unofficial translation of the constitution of the Slovak Republic". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  4. ↑ Terenzani, Michaela. "Time nearly up for presidential candidates". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Terenzani, Michaela. "All fifteen candidates now officially in presidential race". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "SME.sk - Osuský sa vzdal kandidatúry, SaS podporila Procházku". www.sme.sk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Presidential race: no strong candidate yet". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Opposition Still Opposed on Regional and Presidential Candidates". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "Szlovák elnökválasztás: esélytelenek az ismeretlen ellen". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  10. ↑ "Another poll shows Kiska facing Fico in run-off". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Elnökválasztás: Robert Fico és Andrej Kiska közül választhatnánk a második fordulóban". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Labour unionists endorse Fico for president". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  13. ↑ Balogova, Beata. "Who is Andrej Kiska?". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Balogova, Beata. "Presidential candidate drops out". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Prieskum Focus: Kiska si drží náskok v boji o druhé kolo s Ficom". SME.sk. 18 February 2014.
  16. ↑ "Prieskum Polis: Rozdiel medzi Ficom a Kiskom sa znižuje". SME.sk. 8 March 2014.
  17. ↑ "Fico accuses Kiska of Scientology ties; Kiska submits criminal complaint". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  18. ↑ "Hollande, Schulz support Fico in presidential run-off, Kiska prevails at home". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
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