Illustrative stock photo (source: SITA)
In Bratislava, architect Matúš Vallo, an independent candidate running with the support of the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia and Spolu, won the race ahead of independent candidate Václav Mika, former director of the public-service broadcaster RTVS. The incumbent mayor, Ivo Nesrovnal (also running as independent), came in third, followed by Vajnory Mayor and candidate of the centre-right opposition parties, Ján Mrva, unofficial results show.
In Košice, Jaroslav Polaček, the candidate for five opposition parties (SaS, KDH, SMK, NOVA and OKS), received the most votes, defeating the candidate of the ruling Smer and Slovak National Party (SNS), Martin Petruško, according to unofficial results.
Voters in Žilina have elected independent candidate Peter Fiabáne, who won the race ahead of Patrik Groma, also running as independent.
Banská Bystrica re-elected Ján Nosko, running as an independent candidate.
The winner of the mayoral race in the city of Trenčín is the incumbent Richard Rybníček.
Andrea Turčanová, who ran with the support of KDH, OĽaNO and NOVA, won the election in Prešov.
Independent candidate Peter Bročka won the race in Trnava.
In Nitra, independent candidate and organiser of the For a Decent Slovakia protests Marek Hattas was elected new mayor.
Foreigners voted too
The polling stations for the municipal elections in 6,021 precincts were closed at 22:00.
About 4.45 million people were eligible to vote. Unlike the parliamentary elections, state citizenship was not a requirement to participate in the municipal election: all permanent residents over 18, including foreigners, had the right to vote in the municipal elections. This means that foreigners with permanent residence in Slovakia could cast their ballots.
Official results on November 11
There were about 62,000 candidates running for posts in the local councils, with 7,131 people running for 2,926 mayoral positions. There are 20,789 posts in the local councils, in which about 55,000 candidates are interested, the SITA newswire reported.
The official results are expected on November 11, probably in the afternoon hours.
Unlike previous years, the Statistics Office informs about the current results of the fight for the mayoral posts in Bratislava and Košice on their website.
In the case of the other municipalities, the unofficial results are expected to be published during the night or early on November 11. The names of the councillors elected for the local councils will be published only after the official results are announced, SITA wrote.
