Ivan Korčok. (source: TASR)
Ivan Korčok will run in the presidential election next year.
The former foreign minister announced his decision to run as civic candidate on Wednesday.
"My main goal is to help Slovakia. If I succeed, I want to bear co-responsibility for how our country progresses. I would like to offer the experience I have gained from 30 years of service to the Slovak Republic, non-partisanship, and a clear vision of how life in the country should develop," said Korčok.
"If someone turns the foreign policy orientation, if they say the war in Ukraine is the doing of the West, if they try to isolate Slovakia, I will confront them," he added.
Current President Zuzana Čaputová's mandate ends in 2024, and she has said she will not run again.
The head of state is elected by citizens in a direct election every five years. Presidential candidates can be proposed either by at least 15 MPs or by citizens by the means of a petition signed by at least 15,000 people.
"I will be a civic candidate," Korčok said. Hence, he will have to collect 15,000 signatures.
Extremists and populists attack Korčok
The Progresívne Slovensko, SaS, and Demokrati parties, as well as the OĽaNO coalition welcomed Korčok's decision. But the opposition Smer party said it would not support him, saying, among other things, that Slovakia needs someone who "fights for peace and is capable of rejecting foreign interests harming the country".
Meanwhile, the opposition Hlas party said Korčok bears responsibility for the current state of the country, while far-right Republika said of his candidacy that Slovakia does not need another Zuzana Čaputová.
Former diplomat
Korčok entered the Slovak diplomatic service in 1992. He was an ambassador to Germany and the US, and served in the Council of the European Union and at the embassy in Switzerland.
In 2020, he was nominated by the SaS as foreign minister, a post which he held until stepping down in September last year.
