THE OFFICE of parliament officially registered all of the candidates who have submitted their petitions to run in the presidential race on March 15, the SITA newswire reported.
The list of candidates officially includes Prime Minister Robert Fico; deputy chair of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) Pavol Hrušovský; Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Peter Osuský; businessman and civil activist Jozef Behýl; philanthropist Andrej Kiska; co-founder and former KDH member Ján Čarnogurský; Velvet Revolution leader and former government official Milan Kňažko; former KDH MP Radoslav Procházka; Party of Hungarian Community (SMK) member Gyula Bárdos; cardio-surgeon Viliam Fischer; scientist Milan Melník; Rimavská Sobota mayor Jozef Šimko; former ambassador to Argentina Ján Jurišta; MP for Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) Helena Mezenská; and chair of the Coalition of Citizens of Slovakia Stanislav Martinčko.
Jurišta, Šimko and Mezenská were the last three candidates to be approved.
Slovakia has so far seen three presidential elections, and 15 is a record number of candidates (compared to 2009, for example, when only seven people ran).
The first round of the election is scheduled for March 15. If none of the candidates receives over 50 percent of all valid votes, a second round will take place on March 29 as a run-off between the two most successful candidates from the first round.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
