Presidential elections were held in Slovakia in March and April 2009, the country's third direct presidential elections. After no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round on 21 March, the second round on 4 April saw Ivan Gašparovič become the first Slovak president to be re-elected, defeating opposition candidate Iveta Radičová by 55.53% to 44.47%.[1]
First round
There were seven candidates for the first round, which was held on 21 March:[2]
Gašparovič and Radičová advanced to the second round, winning 46.7% and 38.1% of the first round votes, respectively.[3] Slovak women tended to be more supportive of Radičová.[3]
Second round
In the second round of elections, held on 4 April, Gašparovič received 1,234,787 votes (55.5%), winning election.[4] Radičová received 44.5% of the vote. After the election, Gašparovič said, "I am glad I can be standing here today with the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament ... The [election] is the most direct evidence that people trust us."[4]
Voter turnout
Voter turnout was 43.6% in the first round and 51.7% in the second round.[5] Voter turnout among women slightly increased in both the first and second rounds of the election, which was attributed to Radičová's candidacy.[3]
^Grigorij Mesežnikov, Miroslav Kollár & Michal Vašecka, "Slovakia" in Nations in Transit 2010: Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia (ed. Lisa Mootz: Freedom House, 2010), pp. 483-84.