Zuzana Čaputová, Candidate in the upcoming Presidential elections in Slovakia | Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images Anti-corruption candidate wins first round of Slovakia’s presidential election Zuzana Čaputová will face Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič in final vote.

Lawyer Zuzana Čaputová won the largest share of votes in Slovakia’s presidential ballot Saturday, making her the front-runner ahead of a second round later this month.

Čaputová, a newcomer to politics who has run a campaign focused on tackling corruption, won 40.6 percent of the vote, ahead of government candidate and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič on 18.7 percent, according to the national statistics office.

The two will face off in the final round on March 30.

Voters’ support for Čaputová reflects the electorate’s frustration with Slovakia’s ruling Smer party, which has been the target of anti-government protests following the murder a year ago of journalist Ján Kuciak.

Čaputová, 45, has not previously held office. The vice chairwoman of the recently formed pro-EU Progressive Slovakia party, she ran a campaign under the slogan “Let’s fight evil together,” Bloomberg reported.

Her message appears to have resounded with voters, who took to the streets following the murder of Kuciak, who was investigating ties between officials and business at the time of his death.

In 2016 Čaputová won an environmental prize after campaigning in her hometown of Pezinok, near Bratislava, to shut down a hazardous garbage dump. Čaputová, who would be the first woman to hold the position if she wins in two weeks’ time, holds liberal views on both same-sex relationships and adoption.

Šefčovič took unpaid leave from his role at the Commission heading up the bloc’s energy union after announcing his candidacy in January, stating: “Our country needs a good, non-partisan president.”

Saturday’s ballot had a turnout of 48.7 percent.

The president in Slovakia does not wield day-to-day power but holds a veto over the appointments of senior prosecutors and judges, pivotal in the fight against corruption, Reuters reported.

Despite low unemployment and solid economic growth in Slovakia, the popularity of Smer has been plummeting. Smer’s Robert Fico resigned as prime minister last year following Kuciak’s death.

Two days before the vote, police in Slovakia said they charged businessman Marian Kočner with ordering the murder of Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová.