BRATISLAVA, 15 Jun: Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as the president of Slovakia on Saturday in a ceremony that took place amid heightened security following an assassination attempt on his close ally, populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, a month ago.
\nPellegrini called for national unity in his speech at a special session of Parliament that took place at the seat of the Slovak philharmonic, becoming Slovakia\u2019s sixth president since it gained independence after the disintegration of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
\n\u201cWe are one nation, one society, one Slovakia,\u201d he said.
\nThe 48-year-old Pellegrini beat pro-Western career diplomat Ivan Korcok in the presidential runoff vote on April 6. His victory cemented Fico\u2019s grip on power by giving him and his allies control of major strategic posts.
\nHe succeeded Zuzana Caputov\u00e1, the country\u2019s first female head of state and a staunch backer of neighboring Ukraine in its fight against Russia\u2019s invasion. She didn\u2019t seek a second term in the largely ceremonial post.
\nFico didn\u2019t attend the ceremony as he\u2019s still recovering after being shot in the abdomen while greeting supporters on May 15 in the town of Handlova. The assailant was arrested.
\nFico\u2019s leftist Smer (Direction) party won Sept. 30 parliamentary elections on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform.
\nPellegrini, 48, who favors a strong role for the state, headed the left-wing Hlas (Voice) party to the third-place finish in the vote and joined a governing coalition with Fico and the ultranationalist Slovak National Party.
\nCritics worry Slovakia under Fico will abandon its pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n.
\nThe new government immediately halted any arms deliveries to Ukraine. Thousands have repeatedly taken to the streets across Slovakia recently to rally against Fico\u2019s pro-Russian and other policies, including plans to amend the penal code and take control of the public media.
\nPellegerini, who became Parliament\u2019s speaker after the election, never questioned Fico\u2019s policies.
\nHe was Fico\u2019s former deputy in Smer when he became prime minister in 2018, after Fico was forced to resign following major anti-government street protests over the killing of journalist J\u00e1n Kuciak and his fiancee.
\nPellegrini had temporarily parted ways with Fico after the scandal-tainted Smer lost the previous election in 2020, but their reunion enabled made the creation of Fico\u2019s government.
\nThe president of the nation of 5.4 million people picks the prime minister after parliamentary elections, swears in the new government and appoints Constitutional Court judges. The president can also veto laws, though Parliament can override the veto with a simple majority, and challenge them at the Constitutional Court. The head of state also has the right to pardon convicts.
\nThe government, led by the prime minister, holds most executive powers. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRATISLAVA, 15 Jun: Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as the president of Slovakia on Saturday in a ceremony that took place amid heightened security following an assassination attempt on his close ally, populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, a month ago. Pellegrini called for national unity in his speech at a special session of Parliament that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-242251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}