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FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
Sat Mar 15, 2014, 10:23 PM Mar 2014

Slovak PM Fico, political novice advance to run-off presidential vote

(Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and political newcomer Andrej Kiska won the most votes in the first round of a presidential election on Saturday, setting up a run-off that will either cement the ruling party's power or usher in an independent.

A Fico victory in a second-round vote on March 29 would give his centre-left Smer party full control of all the main power centers, even if the Slovak constitution does not grant the president himself a huge political role.

Fico, who has led the central European country since sweeping a parliamentary election in 2012, won 28 percent of the vote to Kiska's 24 percent on Saturday, a smaller margin than opinion polls had indicated.

Kiska, a 51-year-old businessman-turned-philanthropist, has seen his chances grow with voters worried over giving Fico too much power. The Smer party already has a parliamentary majority and runs the government without the need of a coalition.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/16/us-slovakia-election-idUSBREA2F00G20140316

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