Final election results in the first round of Slovakia's presidential elections show former foreign minister Ivan Korčok ahead by a clear margin but headed to run-off.
Korčok, a liberal, led with 42.5% of the vote, according to the official final results published by the election commission on Sunday.
He is set to face Slovak parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini in a second round of voting on April 6, as none of the nine candidates received an absolute majority of votes.
Pellegrini ended up with 37.0% of the vote in the first round of the election, despite leading in opinion polls for much of the campaign.
Voter turnout at the polls on Saturday reached 51.9%.
Pellegrini's Voice - Social Democracy party (Hlas-SD) is part of Slovakia's governing coalition behind the left-wing nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The right-wing populist Slovak National Party (SNS) is also part of the coalition.
Korčok is backed by the opposition and has pledged to be a counterweight Fico's government.
Fico's party has supported Pellegrini in the election, while the right-wing SNS supported the nationalist and pro-Russian former justice minister Stefan Harabin, who came third with 11.7%.
The incumbent president, Zuzana Čaputová, did not run for a second five-year term despite her continued popularity.
There were no women in the field of nine candidates standing in the election to replace her.
The election campaign was overshadowed by the war in neighboring Ukraine and domestic disputes between the Fico government and the liberal opposition. The country is deeply divided politically.
Korčok and the opposition want Slovakia to offer decisive military support for Ukraine, while Pellegrini has urged caution.
