Who will replace Andrej Kiska as the head of state for the next five years?

Slovaks are in the process of electing the successor to Andrej Kiska in the first round of presidential elections. The polling stations opened at 7:00 and will close at 22:00.

The moratorium will last longer than expected, until 23:15. The reason is an incident in the village of Medzany (Prešov Region), when a local man took the urn and scattered its content on the street. Since it is possible to read the ballots, the election results should not be affected, said Eduard Bárány, chair of the State Election Commission.

If none of the candidates receive a majority of valid votes, the two candidates with the highest number of voters will proceed to the second round, scheduled for March 30.

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The first, preliminary results will be published on the website of the Statistics Office (www.statistics.sk) or at www.volbysr.sk shortly after 23:16.

The official results are expected to be published on March 17, after they are confirmed by the Central Election Committee.

The Slovak Spectator will be posting updates on its website during the night and after the official results are confirmed.

Who is running?

There are about 4.45 million eligible voters, who can choose from 13 candidates altogether (in alphabetical order):

Béla Bugár

Zuzana Čaputová

Eduard Chmelár

Martin Daňo

Štefan Harabin

Marian Kotleba

Milan Krajniak

František Mikloško

Maroš Šefčovič

Róbert Švec

Bohumila Tauchmannová

Juraj Zábojník

Ivan Zuzula

Who can attend the elections?

Every Slovak citizen who has reached the age of 18 on the day of the elections can vote for the president. Voting is only possible on Slovak territory though.

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Slovaks living abroad can take part in the elections, but only if they are in Slovakia on the day they are held. The election committee should inscribe them on the voters’ list and also make a note in their passport, as the law stipulates.

The turnout in the first round is expected to be higher than in previous elections, amounting to between 50 and 60 percent. In the past three presidential elections, the figure was no higher than 50 percent.

Turnout in previous elections 1999 First round: 73.89 percent

Second round: 75.45 percent 2004 First round: 47.94 percent

Second round: 43.50 percent 2009 First round: 43.63 percent

Second round: 51.67 percent 2014 First round: 43.40 percent

Second round: 50.48 percent

16. Mar 2019 at 7:00 | Compiled by Spectator staff