2004 Slovak presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Slovakia on 3 April 2004, with a second round on 17 April.[1] Although former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar received the most votes in the first round, he was defeated by Ivan Gašparovič in the run-off.[2]

2004 Slovak presidential election
3 April 2004 (first round)
17 April 2004 (second round)
 
Nominee Ivan Gašparovič Vladimír Mečiar
Party HZD ĽS–HZDS
Popular vote 1,079,592 722,368
Percentage 59.9% 40.1%
Results of the second round, showing vote strength by district.
President before election

Rudolf Schuster
Independent

 Elected President

Ivan Gašparovič
HZD

Eduard Kukan, who had led the opinion polling prior to the elections, was surprisingly eliminated in the first round, narrowly beaten into third place by Gašparovič. Gašparovič later admitted that he had not expect to qualify for the second round, and on first round election night he had gone home to sleep and only found out about his success when he was woken up by phone calls from friends.[3]

Incumbent president Rudolf Schuster finished fourth with just 7% of the vote. He subsequently retired from politics.[4]

Opinion polls
DateAgencySchusterKukanMečiarGašparovičBútoraMikloškoRomanKrálikKalmanŠestákBernátKubík
11–17 February 2004Focus17.527.523.113.76.14.75.40.50.50.50.40.1
9 March 2004OMV15.527.922.415.86.36.73.40.60.40.20.60.2
16–22 March 2004Markant9.730.323.319.75.54.4——————
27 March 2004OMV13.027.024.217.16.58.71.10.80.80.20.40.2

Results
Results of the first round of the election, showing vote strength by district.
Results of the second round of the election, showing vote strength by district.
CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Vladimír MečiarPeople's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia650,24232.74722,36840.09
Ivan GašparovičMovement for Democracy442,56422.281,079,59259.91
Eduard KukanSlovak Democratic and Christian Union438,92022.10
Rudolf SchusterIndependent147,5497.43
František MikloškoChristian Democratic Movement129,4146.52
Martin BútoraIndependent129,3876.51
Ján KrálikParty of the Democratic Left15,8730.80
Jozef KalmanLeft Bloc10,2210.51
Július KubíkIndependent7,7340.39
Jozef ŠestákIndependent6,7850.34
Stanislav BernátIndependent5,7190.29
Ľubo RomanAlliance of the New Citizen1,8060.09
Total1,986,214100.001,801,960100.00
Valid votes1,986,21498.531,801,96098.56
Invalid/blank votes29,6751.4726,3471.44
Total votes2,015,889100.001,828,307100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,204,89947.944,202,59743.50
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Election Database, Our Campaigns

References
  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1747 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, pp1755-1756
  3. "Voľby 2004: Gašparovič doma spal, úspech nečakal". Sme.sk. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  4. TA3, TA3.COM (4 April 2004). "Televízia TA3 | Rudolf Schuster bol prvým priamo zvoleným prezidentom". TA3.com (in Slovak). Retrieved 9 February 2017.

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