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A close ally of Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico has signalled he will run in March’s presidential elections in a move that could cement the Eurosceptic premier’s grip on power.
Peter Pellegrini, currently speaker of the Slovak parliament and leader of a party in the Fico-led government coalition, said he would formally announce his candidacy on January 19.
On Monday he announced that the first round in the polls for head of state would be held on March 23. If no candidate gets an absolute majority, a second round will take place on April 6.
Fico took office in October after his Smer party won national elections and formed a coalition government with two smaller partners, including Pellegrini’s Hlas party. As part of the deal Pellegrini became parliamentary speaker, a position seen as a springboard for him to run for the presidency.
The next election is seen as particularly important because the pro-western incumbent, Zuzana Čaputová, has been acting to counter Fico, notably last month when she forcefully criticised the prime minister’s plan to scrap Slovakia’s anti-corruption prosecutor’s office. The president of Slovakia wields some veto powers.
Last June Čaputová unexpectedly threw open the presidential election by deciding not seek another mandate. The move unnerved Slovakia’s western allies, who are concerned about Fico weakening EU unity and helping bolster Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán’s pro-Russia stance.
Fico, who is serving his fourth term as prime minister, returned to the role after campaigning on a pledge to end support for Ukraine in its war against Russia and oppose further EU sanctions on Moscow.
Early last month he again raised alarm bells in Brussels after saying he would close the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, claiming that its head, prosecutor Daniel Lipšic, had been spreading “evil”.
The European Commission said it would investigate whether the closure was compatible with EU law. Slovakia’s liberal opposition accused Fico of violating the independence of the judiciary, with Čaputová leading the criticism. She called his plan “inadmissible” and “a step backwards”.
Experts have warned that Fico’s plan would face both a veto from Čaputová and a ruling by Slovakia’s constitutional court. Scrapping the anti-corruption prosecutor was not proving the “easy and quick thing for Fico that he thought”, said Grigorij Mesežnikov, chair of the Institute for Public Affairs, a Slovak think-tank.
Fico’s previous term as premier ended abruptly in 2018, when he resigned after weeks of street protests over the killings of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. Kuciak had been investigating Smer for alleged political corruption.
Pellegrini replaced Fico as prime minister but fell out with his former mentor and left Smer to form Hlas. After last year’s elections, Fico mended his relationship with Pellegrini to form a ruling coalition.
Fico has not publicly stated that he would back Pellegrini for the presidency, but told a party conference in November that if the speaker became president it would “significantly change” the map of Slovak politics.
Pellegrini is seen as frontrunner in the election, although other candidates could enter the race. In an Ipsos opinion poll last month for newspaper Denník N, almost 49 per cent of respondents said they would consider voting for him.
Ivan Korčok, foreign minister in the unwieldy previous coalition government that collapsed amid feuding among its leaders, has also declared he will run. The ultranationalist SNS, the junior partner in Fico’s coalition, is expected to field legislator Robert Huliak as its candidate.