Ivan Korčok won the first round but Peter Pellegrini remains favorite to win presidency
Ivan Korčok, a pro-Western diplomat, surprisingly won the first round of the presidential election ahead of Peter Pellegrini, who is closely linked to the corrupt Smer era:
Ivan Korčok | 42.5% |
Peter Pellegrini | 37.0% |
Štefan Harabin | 11.7% |
Krisztián Forró | 2.9% |
Igor Matovič | 2.2% |
The first six months of Robert Fico's government mobilized pro-Western voters, with turnout reaching 52% compared to 49% five years ago. The outcome of the run-off in two weeks is set to be close. Pellegrini will try to win over the voters of the pro-Russian conspirator Štefan Harabin, as well as the core Smer voters who stayed home on Saturday. Harabin has been harshly critical of Pellegrini in the campaign and refused to endorse any of the candidates after the first round. Korčok will try to maintain the momentum of winning the first round. (sme.sk) Bookmakers estimate Pellegrini’s chances of winning the second round at 51%. (dennikN.sk)
Of the five established agencies, only NMS and Median predicted Korčok’s victory, but with much a narrower margin than occurred. Ipsos, Ako and Focus predicted a narrow victory for Pellegrini. (sme.sk) A March poll by a new Scio agency (Martin Klus) was spot-on. In the second round, it showed Pellegrini winning with 52.7%.
