Presidential elections were held in Slovakia in March and April 2009, the country's third direct presidential elections. After no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round on 21 March, the second round on 4 April saw Ivan Gašparovič become the first Slovak president to be re-elected, defeating opposition candidate Iveta Radičová by 56% to 44%.[1]
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| Turnout | 43.62% (first round)  4.32pp51.65% (second round)  8.15pp | ||||||||||||||||
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Candidates
editThere were seven candidates for the first round, which was held on 21 March:[2]
- Ivan Gašparovič: incumbent president, supported by governing parties Direction – Social Democracy and Slovak National Party, and extra-parliamentary Movement for Democracy
- Iveta Radičová: candidate of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party, supported by the Party of the Hungarian Coalition, Christian Democratic Movement and Civic Conservative Party
- František Mikloško: candidate of the Conservative Democrats of Slovakia
- Zuzana Martináková: candidate of the Free Forum
- Milan Melník: independent candidate supported by the governing People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia
- Milan Sidor: independent candidate supported by the Communist Party of Slovakia
- Dagmara Bollová: independent candidate, former member of the Communist Party of Slovakia
Gašparovič and Radičová advanced to the second round, winning 46.7% and 38.1% of the first round votes, respectively.[3] Slovak women tended to be more supportive of Radičová.[3]
In the second round of elections, held on 4 April, Gašparovič received 1,234,787 votes (55.5%), winning election.[4] Radičová received 44.5% of the vote. After the election, Gašparovič said, "I am glad I can be standing here today with the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament ... The [election] is the most direct evidence that people trust us."[4]
Results
editVoter turnout was 44% in the first round and 52% in the second round.[5] Voter turnout among women slightly increased in both the first and second rounds of the election, which was attributed to Radičová's candidacy.[3]
| Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Ivan Gašparovič | Smer, SNS, HZD | 876,061 | 46.71 | 1,234,787 | 55.53 | |
| Iveta Radičová | SDKÚ–DS, SMK, KDH, OKS | 713,735 | 38.05 | 988,808 | 44.47 | |
| František Mikloško | Conservative Democrats of Slovakia | 101,573 | 5.42 | |||
| Zuzana Martináková | Free Forum | 96,035 | 5.12 | |||
| Milan Melník | Movement for a Democratic Slovakia | 45,985 | 2.45 | |||
| Dagmara Bollová | Independent | 21,378 | 1.14 | |||
| Milan Sidor | Communist Party of Slovakia | 20,862 | 1.11 | |||
| Total | 1,875,629 | 100.00 | 2,223,595 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 1,875,629 | 99.10 | 2,223,595 | 99.21 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 17,040 | 0.90 | 17,767 | 0.79 | ||
| Total votes | 1,892,669 | 100.00 | 2,241,362 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,339,331 | 43.62 | 4,339,331 | 51.65 | ||
| Source: IFES, IFES | ||||||
By region
editFirst round
edit| Region | Gašparovič | Radičová | Mikloško | Martináková | Melník | Bollová | Sidor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bratislava Region | 33.21 | 52.60 | 6.75 | 4.74 | 1.62 | 0.84 | 0.56 | ||
| Trnava Region | 37.80 | 49.90 | 4.73 | 4.08 | 1.64 | 1.28 | 0.57 | ||
| Trenčín Region | 57.23 | 26.17 | 4.59 | 5.98 | 3.38 | 1.44 | 1.21 | ||
| Nitra Region | 43.29 | 45.24 | 3.70 | 4.23 | 1.92 | 0.91 | 0.72 | ||
| Žilina Region | 56.22 | 26.10 | 6.75 | 5.53 | 3.15 | 1.23 | 1.02 | ||
| Banská Bystrica Region | 51.09 | 35.80 | 3.18 | 5.22 | 2.23 | 1.23 | 1.23 | ||
| Prešov Region | 52.52 | 27.15 | 8.55 | 5.75 | 2.75 | 1.20 | 2.09 | ||
| Košice Region | 42.26 | 41.97 | 5.00 | 5.37 | 2.92 | 1.06 | 1.43 | ||
| Total in Slovakia | 46.71 | 38.05 | 5.41 | 5.12 | 2.45 | 1.13 | 1.11 | ||
| Cities | 42.20 | 42.54 | 5.61 | 5.35 | 2.11 | 1.09 | 1.06 | ||
| Villages | 52.28 | 32.49 | 5.16 | 4.82 | 2.86 | 1.19 | 1.16 | ||
Second round
edit| Region | Ivan Gašparovič | Iveta Radičová | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bratislava Region | 38.80 | 61.20 | |||||||
| Trnava Region | 42.17 | 57.89 | |||||||
| Trenčín Region | 70.76 | 29.24 | |||||||
| Nitra Region | 46.07 | 53.93 | |||||||
| Žilina Region | 70.52 | 29.48 | |||||||
| Banská Bystrica Region | 59.32 | 40.68 | |||||||
| Prešov Region | 66.54 | 33.46 | |||||||
| Košice Region | 50.69 | 49.31 | |||||||
| Total in Slovakia | 55.53 | 44.47 | |||||||
| Cities | 50.73 | 49.27 | |||||||
| Villages | 61.29 | 38.71 | |||||||
Notes
edit- ^ Although Gašparovič was officially an independent, his campaign was endorsed and funded by Direction – Social Democracy
References
edit- ^ "Slovakia Re-Elects President in Runoff Ballot". Associated Press. April 5, 2009.
- ^ "B92 - News - Politics - Slovak presidential hopefuls mull Kosovo". Archived from the original on 2009-03-28. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ^ a b c Zora Bútorová, Jarmila Filadelfiová & Oľga Gyarfášová, "Towards Gender Equality in Slovakia?" in Gendering Post-socialist Transition: Studies of Changing Gender Perspectives (eds. Krasimira Daskalova, Caroline Hornstein Tomić, Karl Kaser & Filip Radunović: LIT Verlag, 2012), p. 269.
- ^ a b "Slovak president wins re-election in a boost for PM". Reuters. 2009-04-05. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Grigorij Mesežnikov, Miroslav Kollár & Michal Vašecka, "Slovakia" in Nations in Transit 2010: Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia (ed. Lisa Mootz: Freedom House, 2010), pp. 483-84.
External links
edit- NSD: European Election Database - Slovakia Archived 2014-06-15 at the Wayback Machine publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010