Zuzana Caputova is elected Slovakia's first female president

New Slovakia president-elect Zuzana Caputova
EPA
Hatty Collier31 March 2019

Anti-corruption candidate and liberal environmental activist Zuzana Caputova has been elected as the first female president of Slovakia.

Ms Caputova, 45, who is a newcomer to politics, defeated high-profile diplomat Maros Sefcovic in a run-off vote on Saturday.

She won 58 per cent of the vote with Mr Sefcovic on 42 per cent. He conceded defeat and congratulated his rival.

"I'm extremely happy about the result," Ms Caputova said. "It's an extremely strong mandate for me," she said.

"Zuzana, Zuzana," her supporters chanted.

Victory:  Zuzana  Caputova
REUTERS

Ms Caputova attracted voters who are appalled by corruption and mainstream politics.

She only recently became vice chairman of the Progressive Slovakia, a party so new it has not had a chance to run in parliamentary elections. Ms Caputova resigned from her party post after winning the first round of the presidential vote two weeks ago.

She becomes Slovakia's fifth president since the country gained independence after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

The president of the nation of 5.4 million people has the power to pick the prime minister, appoint Constitutional Court judges and veto laws. Parliament can override the veto with a simple majority, however. The government, led by the prime minister, possesses most executive powers.

A lawyer by profession, Ms Caputova is a rising star of Slovak politics. She became known for leading a successful fight against a toxic waste dump in her hometown of Pezinok, for which she received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2016.

Presidential candidate Maros Sefcovic
AFP/Getty Images

A divorced mother of two, she is in favour of gay rights and opposes a ban on abortion in the conservative Roman Catholic country.

She was also part of a campaign in 2017 that led to the annulment of pardons granted by former authoritarian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar.

Sefcovic, 52, is a career diplomat who was supported by the leftist Smer-Social Democracy party led by former populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, a major force in Slovak politics that was tarnished by corruption scandals. He campaigned on a traditional family values ticket.

Popular incumbent Andrej Kiska, who did not stand for a second term, backed Ms Caputova in the vote.

The two had supported the massive anti-government street protests last year triggered by the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fianceethat led to the fall of Mr Fico's coalition government. Investigators have linked Jan Kuciak's death to his work probing possible widespread government corruption.

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