Businessman and philanthropist Andrej Kiska is the new Slovak President. On Saturday he won 59.4 percent of the cast ballots defeating Prime Minister Robert Fico who gathered 40.6 percent.
“All I want to say is that I’ll keep my promise to be a President for all citizens, that I want to unite and motivate people and bring decency to the Slovak political scene,” said the 51 year old Kiska after his victory became clear. An independent candidate with no previous political experience he won in all but one of Slovakia’s administrative regions. The voter turnout was 50.4%. Prime Minister Robert Fico tried to show fair play.
“First of all I’d like to congratulate the winner then of course I’d like to thank my supporters and voters,” said Fico adding that he needs a few days to analyse what this result means for him and his social-democratic party SMER that controls both the Government and Parliament.
As for the newly elected President who will take office on June 15th, here is his CV in brief. Born in the town of Poprad in Northern Slovakia, he is an electrical engineer by profession but had focused on business in the loans industry. After he sold his company to a large commercial bank, he started a charity and developed it into the biggest of its kind in Slovakia. In 2006 he was named Manager of the Year by subscribers of the monthly publication Trend, and in 2011 he was awarded the Crystal Wing award in the category philanthropy.
For more reactions and analysis of the presidential elections, tune into Monday’s edition of “Slovakia Today”.
