Slovakian presidential election, Pellegrini-Korcok on ballot

(ANSA-AFP) - BRATISLAVA, 24 MAR - Slovak Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini and former Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok will face each other on April 6 in the presidential election runoff.
    According to preliminary results from the Slovak Statistical Office, Pellegrini received 40.39 percent of the vote with two-thirds of the votes counted, while the liberal Korcok received 36.90 percent. If Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini wins the runoff it will remove a balance to the power of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. In office since last year, Fico has characterized himself along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as one of the most pro-Russian leaders in Eastern Europe. In Slovakia, presidents play a largely ceremonial role but are also the supreme commanders of the armed forces, appoint central judges and bankers, and have veto power that can slow down legislation.
    The outgoing president, Zuzana Caputova, a human rights activist, used these tactics last month to suspend part of the revision of the Criminal Code that makes it more difficult to investigate and punish corruption.But the 48-year-old Pellegrini has indicated that he does not intend to act in the same way with other controversial projects, including one that would give Fico control of public TV--creating a potential clash with the EU.The idea of a counterweight to the government "is absolutely wrong" and promises only "conflicts between institutions," Pellegrini had said in January when he announced his candidacy.
    (ANSA-AFP).