Slovakia is holding high-stakes presidential elections

Slovakia with a population of about 5.5 million citizens is holding a presidential election on March 23.

Some 4.3 million voters will be able to choose a president out of 10 candidates nominated by political forces ranging from the right to the left of the political spectrum, TASS reports.

The main contender for victory, according to opinion polls, is the speaker of the National Council (parliament) and leader of the Voice - Social Democracy party, 48-year-old Peter Pellegrini.

In Slovakia, polling stations will open at 07:00 (10:00 - Baku time). Voting will close at 22:00 (01:00 - Baku time). After that, vote counting will take place for several hours. The results will be known on Sunday morning.

Support for Pellegrini, who is the most popular politician among his fellow citizens, was steadily increasing before the election. However, pollsters predict that he is unlikely to win more than 50 per cent of the Slovak votes on Saturday, which would allow him to become president with the constitutional result.

Experts say a second round of elections, scheduled for 6 April, will be necessary. They believe the main challenger will be former Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, who is backed by the country's opposition liberal parties.

The recent opinion polls suggest that Pellegrini will win the second round. He is expected to win about 55 per cent of the vote, while Korcok will get about 45 per cent.