Slovakia's leaders cast their vote in parliamentary elections amid calls for participation

Slovakia's political leaders, led by President Zuzana Caputova, have begun voting in a parliamentary election this Saturday in which populist Robert Fico, the country's former prime minister and staunch critic of war assistance to Ukraine, is part as a favorite amid uncertainty over mandatory coalition negotiations.

"I want to ask all those who are doubtful to come and vote," the president said as she left her polling station in Bratislava. "Cohesion and reconciliation in this country must go much further than an electoral horizon," she added.

"Parliamentary elections are a right and an opportunity, but also a responsibility to influence the future of this country," he added in comments reported by the Slovak newspaper 'Pravda'.

The electoral campaign has taken place in an extremely toxic environment partly due to Fico's harsh criticism of the president, whom he has accused of being a "puppet" of the United States; statements that led Caputova to initiate proceedings for a defamation lawsuit.

The latest example of this tension took place precisely at the polling station where Caputova ended up voting an hour late due to the discovery of a suspicious backpack that was abandoned at the doors of the center, finally ruled out as a threat.

The country's Prime Minister, Ludovit Odor, has also cast his vote late after leaving his voter identification card on the way to the polling station. "Since presentation of the card is mandatory, I decided to leave it at home. As if they didn't have things to write today," Odor joked to the media.

Fico cast his vote at a polling station before going to eat at his mother's house. "In conversations with my mother I find a lot of experience, common sense and, of course, the schnitzel here is the best," Fico has made known on social networks, where he has defended a return to customs.

"I would like to have a Slovakia like that here. So that we are not managed by inexperienced amateurs and idiots. I would also like the steak in Slovakia to be bigger and bigger and not smaller and smaller," added Fico.

Also attending the electoral college has been his great rival in these elections, the progressive Michal Simecka. "Let's keep our fingers crossed," the former journalist, representative of Progressive Slovakia and second in voting intention, about two points behind the Smer (Direction) formation of the former prime minister, has asked on his official Facebook account.