2014 Slovak presidential election

2014 Slovak presidential election
← 2009 15 March 2014 (first round)
29 March 2014 (second round)		 2019 →
Turnout43.39% (first round)
50.47% (second round)
 
Nominee Andrej Kiska Robert Fico
Party Independent SMER–SD
Popular vote 1,307,065 893,841
Percentage 59.39% 40.61%
President before election

Ivan Gašparovič
Independent

Elected President

Andrej Kiska
Independent

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 59.39% of the popular vote, compared to Fico's 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Withdrawn candidates
  • Lubica Blaskova – entered the presidential race on 7 April 2013, but stepped down on 9 January 2014.
  • Peter Osuský – entered the race on 12 June 2013, but withdrew on 29 January 2014 and his nominational party Freedom and Solidarity then favourised Radoslav Procházka.[6]

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]

In a promotional video during presidential election campaign in 2014, Fico said he grew up in a Roman Catholic family and that he considers himself a Catholic. He discussed his baptism, holy communion, confirmation and how the Catholic faith had impacted his childhood.[13]

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”.[14] 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.[15]

Opinion polls

First round

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[16] 1.7% 37.0% 7.3% 20.4% 12.9% – 10.3%
3/2014 Polis[17] 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

Date Agency Robert Fico Andrej Kiska
10/2012 Focus[18] 26.4 28.0
11/2013 Focus[19] 49.0 51.0
1/2014 Focus[20] 46.3 53.7

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.[21]

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.[22] 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.[23]

Results

Second round results by regions:
 Andrej Kiska  Robert Fico
First round results by regions:
 Robert Fico
 Andrej Kiska
First round results by districts:
 Robert Fico
 Andrej Kiska
 Radoslav Procházka
 Milan Kňažko
 Gyula Bárdos
CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Robert FicoDirection – Social Democracy531,91928.01893,84140.61
Andrej KiskaIndependent455,99624.011,307,06559.39
Radoslav ProcházkaIndependent403,54821.25
Milan KňažkoIndependent244,40112.87
Gyula BárdosParty of the Hungarian Community97,0355.11
Pavol HrušovskýKDH, SDKÚ–DS, Most63,2983.33
Helena MezenskáIndependent45,1802.38
Ján JurištaCommunist Party of Slovakia12,2090.64
Ján ČarnogurskýIndependent12,2070.64
Viliam FischerIndependent9,5140.50
Jozef BehýlIndependent9,1260.48
Milan MelníkIndependent7,6780.40
Jozef ŠimkoParty of Modern Slovakia4,6740.25
Stanislav MartinčkoCoalition of Citizens of Slovakia2,5470.13
Total1,899,332100.002,200,906100.00
Valid votes1,899,33299.272,200,90698.97
Invalid/blank votes14,0370.7322,9061.03
Total votes1,913,369100.002,223,812100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,409,79343.394,406,26150.47
Source: 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. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ^ "An unofficial translation of the constitution of the Slovak Republic". Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. 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. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  7. ^ a b c "Presidential race: no strong candidate yet". Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Opposition Still Opposed on Regional and Presidential Candidates". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. 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. ^ Terenzani, Michaela. "Confusion arises over Fico's religious background". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  14. ^ Balogova, Beata. "Who is Andrej Kiska?". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  15. ^ Balogova, Beata. "Presidential candidate drops out". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  16. ^ "Prieskum Focus: Kiska si drží náskok v boji o druhé kolo s Ficom". SME.sk. 18 February 2014.
  17. ^ "Prieskum Polis: Rozdiel medzi Ficom a Kiskom sa znižuje". SME.sk. 8 March 2014.
  18. ^ "Kiska ide kandidovať, na Fica si trúfa". Sme.sk. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  19. ^ "Preferencie kandidátov na post prezidenta – november 2013" (PDF). Focus Research. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  20. ^ "Prieskum Focusu zrazil Smer na kolená: Druhé kolo šokujúco Kiska 53,7 vs. Fico 46,3!". Topky.sk. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  21. ^ "Sú známe oficiálne výsledky prezidentských volieb 2014". eTrend (in Slovak). Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  22. ^ "Fico accuses Kiska of Scientology ties; Kiska submits criminal complaint". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  23. ^ "Hollande, Schulz support Fico in presidential run-off, Kiska prevails at home". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 31 March 2014.

External links