Voters in Slovakia head to the polls to vote in the first round of the presidential election on March 23. Should none of the 11 candidates — all of whom are men — win 50% of the vote, then the two leading contenders will face off two weeks later.

The eventual winner will replace Zuzana Caputova. The former civil activist was heralded as a great liberal hope when elected president in 2019 but she has declined to run for a second term.

In Solvakia the presidency is mostly ceremonial but the country's president can play a significant role if, as has been the case recently, the president and prime minister come from opposing sides of the political spectrum. Caputova has remained non-partisan, stood on the side of democracy and the rule of law and clearly established Slovakia's pro-Western foreign policy, said Radoslav Stefancik from the University of Economics in Bratislava.

The departing president, who has sued the country's Prime Minister Robert Fico for labeling her a traitor, says she does not have the energy to survive another five years of Slovakia's rough-and-tumble politics, citing threats against her family.

Caputova's decision was met with disappointment. It's thought she would have had a good chance of winning thanks to her strong track record and lack of affiliation with any of the country's incessantly warring political parties.

In her last major standoff with Fico, an a populist and nationalist, Caputova used her presidential powers to challenge legislation that would weaken country's fight against corruption and organized crime.

Fico returned to........

© Deutsche Welle