The election in Slovakia

Concerns about the election: "Fico is trying to create a mafia state"

If Prime Minister Robert Fico's ally Peter Pellegrini wins the presidential election in Slovakia, it could be another step towards an increasingly authoritarian rule in the country, experts warn, according to Politico.

- Fico is trying to create a mafia state, says political analyst Michal Vasecka to the newspaper.

The outgoing liberal president Zuzana Caputová has, according to Politico, acted as a "buffer" against Fico's most far-reaching repressive proposal, something one cannot expect from Pellegrini.

- He will just be a kind of postman. He will sign things and go abroad, former Prime Minister Ludovít Ódor told the newspaper.

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Slovakia's election: "Russian-friendly" president or not?

Polling stations have opened in the Slovak presidential election, The Slovak Spectator reports.

There are a total of nine candidates to vote for, but the opinion polls indicate that it is really only about two people:

Peter Pellegrini is supported by Prime Minister Robert Fico, and is described just like him as critical of Europe's support for Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Ivan Korcok, on the other hand, is a former diplomat and foreign minister who is supported by large sections of the opposition. He is critical of what he has described as the government's "friendly Russian" policy.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote - and this is unlikely according to many observers - the two candidates with the most votes will meet in a new vote on April 6.