Presidential elections were held in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

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 Ivan Gašparovič (; born 27 March 1941) is a Slovak politician and lawyer who was third president of Slovakia from 2004 to 2014. He was also the first and currently the only Slovak president to be re-elected. Biography Ivan Gašparovič was ...

become the first Slovak president to be re-elected, defeating opposition candidate

Iveta Radičová Iveta Radičová (; born 7 December 1956) served as the first woman prime minister of Slovakia from 2010 to 2012. She led a coalition government, in which she also briefly held the post of Minister of Defence in the last five months of the coalit ...

by 55.53% to 44.47%.

First round

There were seven candidates for the first round, which was held on 21 March: *

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

president, supported by governing parties

Direction – Social Democracy Direction may refer to: *Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction Mathematics and science *Direction ...

and

Slovak National Party The Slovak National Party ( sk, Slovenská národná strana, SNS) is a nationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on both social and the European Christian values. Since 1990 SNS has won ...

, and extra-parliamentary Movement for Democracy *

: candidate of the

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party ( sk, Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia – Demokratická strana, SDKÚ-DS) was a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia. The SDKÚ-DS was a m ...

, supported by the

Party of the Hungarian Coalition The Party of the Hungarian Community ( hu, Magyar Közösség Pártja, sk, Strana maďarskej komunity; SMK-MKP), formerly known as Party of the Hungarian Coalition ( hu, Magyar Koalíció Pártja, sk, Strana maďarskej koalície), was a politi ...

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement ( sk, Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie, KDH) is a Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International. H ...

and

Civic Conservative Party The Civic Conservative Party ( sk, Občianska konzervatívna strana, OKS) is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Slovakia. It has two seats in the National Council, following the 2020 election. It has also representation at ...

František Mikloško František Mikloško (born 2 June 1947) is a Slovak politician. He was the Speaker of the Slovak National Council from 1990 to 1992. And a long serving MP of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (1990-2010). For most of his career, he wa ...

: candidate of the

Conservative Democrats of Slovakia The Conservative Democrats of Slovakia ( sk, Konzervatívni demokrati Slovenska, KDS) is a defunct Slovak political party established by four MPs (František Mikloško, Vladimír Palko, Rudolf Bauer and Pavol Minárik) who belonged to the Christ ...

Zuzana Martináková Zuzana Martináková (born 5 May 1961 in Púchov, Czechoslovakia) is a Slovak politician and a former journalist. She is the leader of the political party Free Forum. Life Martináková is a graduate of the Comenius University in Bratislava. S ...

: candidate of the

Free Forum The Free Forum ( sk, Slobodné fórum, ; "Free" in the sense of " freedom") was a political party in Slovakia, founded in 2004 by dissident parliamentarians from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ). Zuzana Martináková is the leade ...

Milan Melník Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate supported by the governing

People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia Former headquarters of the ĽS-HZDS political party at Tomášikova Street 32/A in Bratislava The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia ( sk, Hnutie za demokratické Slovensko, HZDS) was a national-populist political party in Slovakia. The party ...

* Milan Sidor: independent candidate supported by the

Communist Party of Slovakia The Communist Party of Slovakia ( sk, Komunistická strana Slovenska, KSS) is a communist party in Slovakia, formed in 1992, through the merger of the Communist Party of Slovakia – 91 and the Communist League of Slovakia. The party is observer ...

* Dagmara Bollová: independent candidate, former member of the

Gašparovič and Radičová advanced to the second round, winning 46.7% and 38.1% of the first round votes, respectively.Zora Bútorová, Jarmila Filadelfiová & Oľga Gyarfášová, "Towards Gender Equality in Slovakia?" in ''Gendering Post-socialist Transition: Studies of Changing Gender Perspectives'' (eds. Krasimira Daskalova, Caroline Hornstein Tomić, Karl Kaser & Filip Radunović:

LIT Verlag LIT Verlag is a German academic publisher founded in 1980. Its managing director is Wilhelm Hopf. Its principal place of publication is Münster; further publishing offices are located in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, London, Zurich, and New York Ci ...

, 2012), p. 269. Slovak women tended to be more supportive of Radičová.

Second round

In the second round of elections, held on 4 April, Gašparovič received 1,234,787 votes (55.5%), winning election. 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 lectionis the most direct evidence that people trust us."

Voter turnout

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 43.6% in the first round and 51.7% in the second round.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. Voter turnout among women slightly increased in both the first and second rounds of the election, which was attributed to Radičová's candidacy.

Results

2009 Slovak presidential election - First Round Vote Strength

2009 Slovak presidential election - Second Round Vote Strength

References

External links

NSD: European Election Database - Slovakia
publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010 {{Slovak presidential elections

Presidential elections in Slovakia 2009 in Slovakia