BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA - Riding a wave of public fury over corruption, liberal lawyer Zuzana Caputova won Slovakia's presidential election on Saturday , bucking a trend that has seen populist, anti-European Union politicians make gains across the continent.
Mr Sefcovic, a respected diplomat who is also pro-EU, is backed by the ruling party Smer, the largest grouping in parliament that has dominated Slovak politics since 2006. Ms Caputova started her acceptance speech by thanking voters in Slovak, as well as in the Hungarian, Czech, Roma and Ruthenian languages, turning to all main minority groups.
Slovakia's president wields little day-to-day power but appoints prime ministers and can veto appointments of senior prosecutors and judges. Ms Caputova, a divorced mother of two teenage daughters, had waged a 14-year fight with a company Kocner represented that wanted to build an illegal landfill in her home town. She eventually won the case, earning her the nickname"Slovakia's Erin Brockovich", after the American environmentalist portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 film.