Czech politicians welcome pro-European candidates making Slovak presidential runoff

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Tomáš Petříček, has welcomed the fact that Zuzana Čaputová and Maroš Šefčovič have made it into the second round of Slovakia’s presidential elections. Mr. Petříček said both were guaranteed to fight against extremism and hatred.

Jan Lipavský of the Czech Pirate Party said Čaputová’s first place finish was a great success for liberal politics in Central Europe, adding that both remaining candidates were for Slovakia taking an unequivocally pro-European direction.

ANO’s Jaroslav Bžoch said it was good that both were more pro-European than Eurosceptic, adding that he saw a link between their reaching the runoff and the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak, as Slovakia was looking for change.

Lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner Čaputová received 40.5 percent of the vote in the first round. Šefčovič, who is a European Commissioner, got 20.7 percent. The runoff takes place in less than two weeks.

Author: Ian Willoughby