Slovakia goes to polls today to elect new President

Slovak citizens are voting in a Presidential election, choosing among 14 candidates to succeed Ivan Gasparovic in a largely ceremonial post.

Left—leaning Prime Minister Robert Fico is a favorite in Saturday’s balloting. The 49-year-old heads Slovakia’s dominant SMER—Social Democracy party. He led it to a landslide victory in 2012 that allowed the party to govern alone a first for Slovakia.

Fico’s major challenger is Andrej Kiska, the 51—year—old successful businessman-turned philanthropist.

Other notable candidates include Milan Knazko, a leading figure of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia and Radoslav Prochazka, an independent conservative lawmaker with a degree from Yale Law School.

If no candidate wins at least 50 percent, the top two will advance to a second round on March 29.