The 2018 Slovak local elections were held on Saturday, 10 November 2018, to elect deputies to municipality councils, city councils and mayors, including mayors of boroughs and members of their councils in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

and

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

. The turnout slightly increased compared to last elections in 2014 to 48.67%. The highest turnout rate was recorded in

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

(53.18%), and the lowest turnout rate in

Bratislava Region The Bratislava Region (, ; (until 1919); ) is one of the Regions of Slovakia, administrative regions of Slovakia. Its capital is Bratislava. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders exist from 1996. It is the smallest of ...

(43.74%). Locally the highest percentage of votes cast was in Chorváty,

Košice-okolie District Košice–okolie District (''okres Košice–okolie''; , lit. 'Košice-Surroundings') is a district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia. It surrounds the city of Košice, which serves as the district seat although it does not belong to the d ...

(89.88%, 80 out of 89), and the lowest in Košice's borough Luník IX (19.44%, 862 out of 4,434). In 762

cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, only one candidate ran for mayor, therefore, these candidates needed only one vote to be elected. These included two cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, Brezno and

Šaľa Šaľa (, ; , ) is a town in Šaľa District within Nitra Region in south-western Slovakia. Geography Šaľa is located on the Danubian Lowland on both banks of the Váh River, around 65 km from Bratislava and 30 km from Nové Zámky. Be ...

. In five municipalities, there was no candidate for mayor.

Electoral system

The commune elections in Slovakia use the one-round system for all elected seats. Mayoral elections utilize the first-past-the-post voting system compared to local councils where voters choose from the list same number of candidates as are representing theirs

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. The candidates with the highest number of votes are elected.

Overall results

The following tables summarize the elected mayors and council deputies by their party affiliation.

Mayor elections

Council deputies

Results in major cities

Bratislava

The incumbent mayor

Ivo Nesrovnal Ivo Nesrovnal, LL.M. (, born 19 May 1964) is a Slovak lawyer and politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the ...

elected as

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

decided to run for second term. However, he was defeated by architect and civil activist Matúš Vallo, supported by

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

and Together - Civic Democracy who became new mayor and defeated another

and former director-general of Radio and Television of Slovakia, Václav Mika. Out of 17 new elected mayors of boroughs were 10 independent candidates and 7 candidates with the support of different centre-right coalitions - each with

Freedom and Solidarity Freedom and Solidarity (, SaS), also called Saska, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009,. SaS was founded by economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally hol ...

, We Are Family and New Majority.

Košice

The previous mayor, 2014-elected

Richard Raši Richard Raši (born 2 April 1971 in Košice) is a Slovak physician and politician who served as Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Information. A member of the Voice – Social Democracy () political party, Raši previously serve ...

( SMER-SD), resigned from office after his appointment to new government as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

. Responsibility for the mayor office was taken over by Martin Petruško ( SMER-SD). The campaign was influenced by rumored child harassment scandal of opposition candidate, Jaroslav Polaček that caused his loss of support from few major political parties. These rumors were later demented and Polaček won the election. Out of 22 new elected mayors of boroughs were 13 independent candidates, 7 candidates with the support of different centre-right coalitions - each with

and

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement (, 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 The Centrist Democrat International ...

, 1 candidate of

Direction – Social Democracy Direction – Social Democracy (, Smer–SD), also commonly referred to as Smer, is a left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist and left-wing populism, left-wing populist political party in Slovakia led by the incumbent Prime Minister of Slov ...

and 1 from Party of the Romani Coalition.

Prešov

Andrea Turčanová - the incumbent mayor elected with support of center-right coalition confirmed in February 2018 intention to candidate for re-election. Her biggest rival was the former mayor (2006-2014) and

Pavel Hagyari.

Žilina

Mayor of

Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in different languages: U-Z#Z, names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the List of cities ...

- Igor Choma ( SMER-SD) announced he was not going to run for re-election. On the other hand, in Žilina occurred increased number of independent candidates elected to council. Election was won by Peter Fiabáne ( NEKA) who was externally supported by both liberal and conservative center-right parties.

Banská Bystrica

References

{{Slovak elections Elections in Slovakia 2018 elections in Europe November 2018 in Slovakia 2018 in Slovakia Local elections in Slovakia