Andrej Kiska elected fourth President of the Slovak Republic

April 1, 2014 An independent candidate won Slovakia's presidential election with 59.38 percent of the vote, official results published Sunday by the Statistics Office say.

His rival, incumbent Prime Minister and the official candidate of ruling (Direction – Social Democracy) party  received 40.61 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was 50.48 percent. 51-year-old businessman Andrej Kiska is the first Slovak president without previous experience in politics, and the first who has never belonged to the Communist Party, since Slovakia became an independent country in 1993. Kiska is to be inaugurated as the fourth President on June 15, and be president for the next five years.

In a press conference late Saturday, Kiska thanked his voters and supporters, before vowing:

Millionaire Kiska made his fortune in the financial industry. In 2006 he co-founded charitable foundation, working with cancer victims. Most of his money has been given to charity, and he has sold off his businesses.

He announced his presidential candidature for this election before anyone else, about two years ago. Kiska said he chose to stand after witnessing impediments to his business and charitable work. He focused on his independence from other politicians and financial expertise.

Fico's party controls most of Slovakia's power institutions. A bitter election campaign saw Fico wage a against Kiska, who has filed criminal allegations against Fico. Incumbent President 's term ends June 15, with Kiska taking the reigns at a swearing-in the same day.

Despite remaining out of recession, Slovakia suffers high unemployment which coupled with recent corruption allegations has shaken electorate faith in Fico and mainstream politics generally. Kiska promised to tackle corruption. His run-off election bid against Fico was widely supported by mainstream parties and defeated candidates from the previous round of elections.

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