Čaputová will move on, who will take her place?

Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Zuzana Čaputová will not run for re-election as president, and the names of potential successors are already flying around. Boris Kollár is alleged to have beaten one of his romantic partners. Slovakia’s parliament recognises the Ukrainian famine as genocide.

If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.

Just one term for Madam President

One term is enough, Zuzana Čaputová has finally decided: she will not run for re-election.

"I consider it very important to be honest with myself and with the people. I based my campaign and the entire performance of my mandate on that. If I didn't stick to that honesty, I would be going against what I built my relationship with the public upon," President Zuzana Čaputová said in an interview with the Sme daily, which The Slovak Spectator has republished in English.

Popularity in spite of hate campaign

There is a lot we could say about Čaputová’s legacy as president at this point. But with a year to go before her term ends, it feels premature. Suffice it to say that she has held the top constitutional post during some of the most difficult moments that Slovakia (along with other countries) has so far experienced, foremost among them the pandemic and the war across the border. Her performance has not been flawless, but she has maintained the calm posture that inspired many of her voters to elect her as the country’s first woman president four years ago.

That election victory, in which the candidate of the then-ruling Smer party was her main adversary, was seen as a rare victory for liberal forces in central Europe back in 2019, and proof that calm, reason and compassion could prevail over a campaign of vilification. That campaign did not end with her arrival in the Presidential Palace – quite the contrary.