Slovakia is gearing up for a presidential run-off election to elect a successor to President Ivan Gasparovic who is currently concluding his second term in office.
Prime Minister Robert Fico will be facing challenger Andrej Kiska on March 29, only two weeks after both politicians obtained the most votes out of the 15 contending candidates (28% and 24% respectively).
43.4% of the 4,409,793 registered voters participated in the first round. A similarly low turnout is expected for this election.
In Slovakia, every citizen over the age of 18 is entitled to vote. Also, any foreigner legally residing in the territory, is eligible to vote. Conversely, Slovakians living abroad are not allowed to cast a ballot .
The National Council, the highest electoral body, has created 6,958 electoral precincts (polling places) to capture the vote of citizens.
The expenses associated with the first election are approximately $14.95 million. This covers the salaries of all members of election commissions, ballot printing, equipment of the polling station and also the Statistical Office’s work providing the processing of results.
To count and tabulate results, the Slovak Statistical Office will use some standard computerized technology. They plan to publish results online as soon as they have them available.
“Image courtesy of Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”
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