Zuzana Caputova becomes 1st female president in Slovak history

The Slovak electoral commission confirmed on Sunday noon that lawyer Zuzana Caputova has been elected the fifth president and the first female president of the country.

Zuzana Caputova speaks to a journalist in the front of the Presidential palace in Bratislava, Slovakia on March 31, 2019. [Photo: VCG]

In the second round of voting held on Saturday, Caputova got 58.40 percent of votes, while her opponent Maros Sefcovic, who is also the European Commission vice president, got 41.59 percent.

In the first round held on March 16, none of the 13 candidates received an absolute majority of votes with Caputova and Sefcovic respectively receiving 40.57 percent and 18.66 percent. The voter turnout in the first round reached 48.7 percent.

The second round between Caputova and Sefcovic began at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Saturday and ended at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT).

Caputova gave up her membership in the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia party before the run-off and vowed to fight for justice for all Slovaks.

She will take office on June 15 when the tenure of incumbent President Andrej Kiska is due to expire. She will be the fifth president of Slovakia after the country emerged as an independent state in 1993 following the parliament-approved dissolution of Czechoslovakia.