Peter Pellegrini to be Slovakia's new president after run-off win

Social democratic parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini has been elected Slovakia's new president, according to the official results released on Sunday.

Pellegrini, 48, won 53.1% of ballots in the run-off vote on Saturday, comfortably beating liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korčok who garnered 46.9% of votes, according to the electoral commission.

Voter turnout stood at 61.1%, significantly higher than in the first round of voting in the presidential elections on March 23.

Incumbent President Zuzana Čaputová did not run for a second five-year term despite her continued popularity.

She is set to hand over the reigns to Pellegrini on June 15.

The office of president has a largely symbolic function in Slovakia, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO.

Pellegrini's Voice-Social Democracy party (Hlas-SD) is part of Slovakia's governing coalition, led by left-wing nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The right-wing populist Slovak National Party (SNS) is also part of the fractious coalition.

Korčok, a liberal, was backed by the opposition and had pledged to be a counterweight Fico's government.

Korčok surprisingly led in the first round of voting on March 23 with a 5.5 percentage point advantage over Pellegrini. However, the race went to a run-off because no candidate managed to collect an outright majority of the votes cast.

The election was dominated by issues related to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Korčok said Slovakia needs to be more resolute in its military support for Kiev, while Pellegrini urged caution when it comes to arms deliveries, citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a political guide.

Slovakia's three-party coalition government is at loggerheads with the liberal and conservative opposition about the war, but also about issues surrounding the rule of law and democracy.