Liberal lawyer Zuzana Chaputova won Saturday in the presidential election in Slovakia, becoming the first female president in the history of Slovakia.

Independent candidate Maroš Šefčovič, the 52-year-old vice-president of the European Commission supported by the ruling party Smer-SD (left populist) won 41.7 percent of the vote.

Changes in power were launched in February last year, following mass protests over the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak.

Chaputova participated in the protests after the murder of the journalist, leading the government to an inconvenient position and triggering a serious political crisis in a country of 5.4 million inhabitants of the European Union and NATO.

With the slogan “Always for Slovakia,” Šefčovič promised to increase social benefits for older people and young families.

Lawyer and environmental activist Čaputova is a member of the Progressive Slovak Republic, which she promised to leave to be elected to the presidency, and was supported by opposition parties, a smaller party in the ruling coalition representing the Hungarian minority and the president on the departure of Andrej Kisk