Presidential elections were held in Slovakia on 15 March 2014, with a second round on 29 March 2014. After a first round, in which no candidate secured majority, Robert Fico and Andrej Kiska qualified to second round. On 29 March 2014, Kiska won the second round of the elections after securing 59.39% of the popular vote, compared to Fico's 40.61%. Kiska succeeded incumbent Ivan Gašparovič, who was unable to run due to term limits established by the Constitution.
First round
Candidates
All candidates who wished to contest the presidency were required to collect no less than 15.000 individual signatures in order to qualify for the race. In addition they had to officially submit their candidacy to the election commission in writing no later than 9 January 2014. At least one would-be candidate, Leonid Chovanec, a citizen from Košice who intended to run as an independent candidate, gave up his candidacy on January 6 citing "unequal conditions for people in their access to the candidacy for the post of president”. He did not manage to collect the 15,000 signatures to support his presidential bid. On January 9, Speaker of parliamentPavol Paska officially announced that the following candidates had been approved.
The political right was fragmented; the People’s Platform failed to agree on a common candidate. Christian Democratic Movement and Most-Hid announced that they supported Pavol Hrušovský, but the third party, Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party originally refused to agree. According to multiple sources, SDKÚ would have preferred former Prime MinisterIveta Radičová as their candidate, however, she made clear that she did not want to run for president again. Later, after Fico announced its candidacy, SDKÚ-DS eventually decided to support Hrušovský. Shortly before first round of elections some members of SDKÚ-DS and Most-Híd suggested their supporters should choose different candidate in the upcoming elections, following polls which gave Hrušovský only small chance of progressing to second round.
Robert Fico
The ruling Smer party selected incumbent Prime Minister Robert Fico as its official candidate. According to opinion polls, Fico dominated his opponents, who were divided, and he would advance to the second round with a double digit lead. In addition, polls showed that he was most likely to win the presidential election. However, his party would have had to replace him as PM and party leader, meaning that Smer would have had to produce a popular and credible leader to follow Fico. As early as February, Fico was endorsed by the National trade union center when The Confederation of Labour Unions officially called upon its members to vote for Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Andrej Kiska
Andrej Kiska was the first candidate to officially announce his presidential candidacy and his billboards appeared around Slovakia long before the names of his competitors were known. He was officially running as an independent candidate and had no political background whatsoever. Prior to the first round Kiskas campaign mostly stressed his independence, including his financial independence, which mean that he didn't have to report to any political parties. Furthermore, he promoted his lack of political involvement as one of his strengths, while his website featured the slogan “The First Independent President”. Eventually, Andrej Kiska won the election on 29 March with nearly 60% of the popular vote, becoming the first president in the history of Slovak republic never to have been a member of the Communist Party, nor any other political party.
Radoslav Procházka
The young constitutional lawyer Prochazka, who campaigned as the conservative candidate, was formerly a member with the Christian Democratic Movement, but ran as an independent. His campaign mainly targeted the large catholic population, with issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and traditional family values. His campaign also stressed his youth as a strength, as well as his background as a constitutional lawyer, with his official slogans reading: "A young president? Why not!" and "Strong president. I will protect your rights!"
The Freedom and Solidarity party announced on 11 June 2013 that Peter Osuský would be their candidate for the presidency. Due to poor results in polls, Osuský decided to pull off his candidature. SaS reacted by supporting Radoslav Procházka for upcoming first round of elections.
Opinion polls
First round
Second round
Second round
During the second round all independent candidates and some right-wing parties supported Kiska. These candidates secured more than 60% votes including the ones received by Kiska in first round. Fico secured 12% more votes than in the first round. High turn out in second round helped Kiska defeat Fico by 20 points.
Campaign
The second round of the election, which pitted Robert Fico against Andrej Kiska, saw the candidates engage in a series of televised presidential debates. Fico repeatedly accused Kiska of having links to the Church of Scientology, but stopped short of calling him a member. Kiska however, confirmed his catholic faith, and filed criminal charges against Fico. All the defeated candidates from the first round subsequently backed Kiska, while international social-democrats such as French presidentFrancois Hollande and Speaker of the European Parliament Martin Schultz endorsed Fico.
