The first round of the presidential elections on Saturday 15 March showed preliminary polls to be right, with PM Robert Fico taking first place, followed by independent Andrej Kiska, who was much closer to his rival than had been expected.
From a turnout of 43.4%, Fico enjoyed 28% of the vote with around 532,000 votes, while Kisko was not far behind with a surprising 24% of the vote (456,000). The two candidates will now fight it out in the second round in two weeks time on 29 March.
Not so far behind in third place was Radoslav Prochazka with an impressive 21.24% of the vote, with the next nearest rival being former actor Milan Knazko, who enjoyed 12.86%. The other 11 candidates scored around or under 5%.
All the opposition parties now stand behind Kiska, with failed candidates openly encouraging people to vote for him in the second round, which will now be a close race. A strong anti-Fico campaign is in motion, even going as far as to have their own billboards before the election.
Fico versus a bag of potatoes. My money is on the food.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26559474