European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic announced Friday he will run for Slovak president as a non-partisan with backing from the ruling populist party. The EU and Nato member country of 5.4 million people will hold the presidential poll on March 16. If no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round will take place on March 30. "Today, I am standing in front of you as a candidate for president of the Slovak Republic," Sefcovic told journalists. The 52-year-old EU energy commissioner said that Slovakia "needs a good non-partisan president... I will guarantee Slovakia's anchoring in the European Union."

Earlier this week, the ruling Smer-SD party expressed its support for Sefcovic.

"I can confirm that on behalf of the internal leadership of the Smer-SD party, maximum support is expressed in favour of Sefcovic's candidacy," party deputy chairman Peter Kazimir told reporters. Sefcovic studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and has held several diplomatic posts, including serving as Slovak ambassador to Israel. Incumbent President Andrej Kiska, who is a vocal critic of the governing three-party coalition, announced in May that he would not run for a second term. His main political opponent, former prime minister Robert Fico, will also not be among the candidates as he is running for one of the vacant posts on the Constitutional Court. Bela Bugar, leader of the junior coalition member and Hungarian minority party Most-Hid, is among the more than dozen official presidential candidates.

Others include far-right lawmaker Marian Kotleba and Supreme Court justice Stefan Harabin.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019