Businessman Kiska inaugurated as Slovakia's president

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Millionaire businessman Andrej Kiska was Sunday inaugurated as Slovakia's president. He takes over from Ivan Gasparovic, who has served his constitutional limit of two terms in office.

The 51-year-old Kiska, an independent and political novice, won the March presidential runoff over Prime Minister Robert Fico, coming in at 59.4 per cent of the vote to the latter's 40.6 per cent.He was little known to Slovakians except for his charitable work, before mounting an expensive, two-year political campaign.
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Slovak businessman Kiska becomes new president

Political newcomer Andrej Kiska, a businessman with no party affiliation, easily won Slovakia's presidential runoff over Prime Minister Robert Fico, who conceded defeat.

Political newcomer and millionaire Andrej Kiska emerged out of nowhere to win a landslide in Saturday's presidential run-off, preventing veteran leftist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from tightening his grip on power.

A non-aligned centrist who made his fortune in the consumer-credit business, the 51-year-old Kiska will be Slovakia's first president since independence in 1993 without a past in the Communist party.

"I want to re-establish the people's trust in the office of president," Kiska said in a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in the capital Bratislava.

The millionaire-turned-philanthropist who has given away most of his fortune to charity also vowed to "make politics more human."

Fico, who will likely stay on as prime minister in the runup to a 2016 general election, conceded defeat as results showed Kiska winning a landslide.

Based on results from 99 percent the vote, Kiska scored 59.4 percent of the vote compared to Fico's 40.6 percent result, the election commission said.

"This election was a referendum on Fico and his government, and he clearly lost it," Grigorij Meseznikov, Bratislava-based analyst from the Institute for Public Affairs told AFP of the premier's failed attempt to monopolise power.

"The vast majority of voters have expressed their disillusion with Fico, he was unable to mobilise his core voters," he added.

A prospect of Smer winning control of both parliament and the presidency galvanised opponents in the ex-communist country of 5.4 million, which joined the European Union in 2004 and the eurozone in 2009.

Fico's party has a majority 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, with the next general election scheduled for 2016.

Analysts also warned that if he had taken the presidency, Fico could have tried to amend the constitution to boost presidential powers and transform the parliamentary system into a presidential one.

Crucially, Kiska sold himself as a bulwark against a Fico power grab.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_15/Businessman-Kiska-inaugurated-as-Slovakias-president-8145/