(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. The Wednesday, October 26 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
Bratislava mayor's race almost at its finish
Nové Mesto borough mayor Rudolf Kusý. (source: TASR - Pavel Neubauer)
From midnight, Slovakia will find itself in a two-day vacuum in which no campaigning will be allowed ahead of the municipal and regional elections.
They will be held on Saturday, October 29. Polling stations will close at 20:00.
Bratislava, the Slovak capital, will either re-elect its incumbent mayor Matúš Vallo, favoured by public opinion polls and bookers, or elect the new mayor, Nové Mesto borough mayor Rudolf Kusý.
Here is your last-chance guide to the mayoral election in Bratislava.
Related: Explore how you can vote in the regional and municipal elections.
Foreigners: Over 82,000 foreigners can vote on October 29, but not all will be heading to the ballot box.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
Health: Calls have been made for people to donate blood after the National Transfusion Service said stocks of 0 negative and B negative blood were running low.
Security: The Interior Ministry's Centre for Combating Hybrid Threats is to launch the use of a new analytical tool to help fight extremism.
Politics: The Constitutional Court ruled that a referendum question, which could cause the fall of the current government, is unconstitutional.
Travel: Mountain rescuers from the Veľká Fatra Regional Centre helped four intoxicated tourists from Poland last weekend.
Opinion: Slovakia regularly ranks among OECD countries with the deepest regional differences. What are we doing wrong?
If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.
FEATURE STORY FOR WEDNESDAY
Slavín is a Russian foot set in Slovakia, says historian
The Slavín monument in Bratislava. (source: SME - Marko Erd)
From the beginning, the Slavín monument performed two functions. It was never just a cemetery with buried soldiers from the end of World War II and it also manifested the dominance of Moscow. The monument also fulfils this function, at least in Russian eyes, to this day.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Iceland's President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson will visit Slovakia on Thursday, October 27, with his wife Eliza Reid. She visited Slovakia in the summer to promote her debut book, "Secrets of the Sprakkar".
Austria will decide on the possible extension of border controls with Slovakia on Friday, October 28.
Czech airline Smartwings opened a direct flight from Bratislava to Dubai on Wednesday. During the winter flight schedule, from the end of October to the end of March next year, the line will be operated twice a week.
The Trnava-based carmaker Stellantis Slovakia extended the suspension of production announced on Tuesday. Due to a lack of electric components, production will not resume even on Monday, October 31.
The Netherlands, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus recycled more than half of their plastic packaging waste generated. In contrast, less than one-third of plastic packaging waste was recycled in Malta, France, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Poland and Austria, the Eurostat announced on October 20, 2022.
Tram lines 3 and 7 in Bratislava are operational again after the city's public transport company fixed the problem with a catenary line.
The government changed its earlier decision and will not abolish the representative office of the Slovak Republic in the Kingdom of Denmark with its seat in Copenhagen.
Up to 700,000 Ukrainian refugees could arrive in Slovakia as a result of the battles in Ukraine and the approaching winter, claims a plan approved by the government.
A Polis poll for the SITA news agency, carried out from October 16 to 22 by phone, has found that the Smer party would win a parliamentary election if held at the time of surveying 1,013 respondents. Smer would win with 19.3 percent, followed by Hlas with 18.5 percent and SaS with 10.6 percent. Hlas chair Peter Pellegrini remains the most trusted leader of a political party, with 27.9 percent. Marian Kotleba, head of the far-right ĽSNS party, is the least trusted leader.
If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
