Peter Pellegrini won the Slovak presidential election

Peter Pellegrini
Photo: AFP

Peter Pellegrini won the Slovak presidential election with 52.12 percent of the vote, the statistics department of the republic reported after processing 100 percent of the ballots.

Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini defeated pro-West career diplomat Ivan Korčok for the Slovak presidency in a runoff election Saturday, giving Prime Minister Robert Fico’s ruling coalition total control over the executive and legislative branches of government.

“This victory is an enormous vindication for me,” Pellegrini said.

Korčok conceded late Saturday, saying: “I’m disappointed and bummed out, to be honest, but as a sportsman I have to respect the result.”

Peter Pellegrini held his first meeting with supporters and journalists.

During the meeting, Pellegrini stressed that he would do everything so that Slovakia "would always be on the side of peace, not war."

"I will do everything to ensure that Slovakia is always on the side of peace, not war. And let anyone criticize me for this, in any way," Pellegrini said.

The President-elect of Slovakia noted that he won by a significant margin from his opponent in terms of the number of votes. According to Pellegrini, he was supported by almost 1.4 million voters. In total, 4.3 million people in the republic with a population of about 5.5 million citizens have the right to vote.

Pellegrini said that he put up his candidacy for president of the country only because he "felt the support of decent people who live and work honestly." The President also stressed that he will always and everywhere protect the interests of Slovakia and its citizens.

Victory by Peter Pellegrini gives the ruling coalition total control over the executive and legislative branches in Bratislava.

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