Slovakia Elects Its First Female President In Its History

The Central European country of Slovakia elected its first female president,  Zuzana Čaputová, in its history as a result of its national presidential runoff elections held on Saturday, March 30. The 45-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption activist, as well as government critic from the country’s capital city of Bratislava, received more than 58% of the popular vote while her non-partisan independent opponent, European Commission member Maroš Šefčovič,  received about 41% of the popular vote. Čaputová will succeed current Slovak president Andrej Kiska and take office on June 15, 2019.

As a member of the newly formed liberal center-left Progressive Slovakia party, Čaputová publically has advocated for LGBTQIA+ rights in a country where same-sex marriage equality and adoption is not legalized and or recognized. Čaputová also promised more efforts towards environmental regulation and conversation as well as civil liberties and human rights for prisoners.

Progressive Slovakia is expected to contest in the next parliamentary elections in 2020 against the social democratic center-left Direction – Social Democracy party and other conservative parties represented in the unicameral National Council. The Slovakian presidency is mostly informal and has limited powers.