Speaking to the Pravda daily, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák announced that he would not run for the presidential office in Slovakia in 2019. He has thus joined SMER-party leader and Prime Minister Robert Fico who took the same position in December 2017. Another possible candidate for SMER, the largest coalition party, is considered to be Maroš Šefčovič, the Vice-President of the European Commission. He, however, has not confirmed this, saying he has not even thought about this possibility. Nevertheless, according to SMER's political secretary and Labour Minister Ján Richter the party plans to enter the 2019 Presidential elections with its own candidate. Coalition partners of the SMER-SD, Most-Híd as well as the Slovak National Party have also already announced they would come up with their own candidates. The SMER-SD ex-vice chair and Culture Minister Marek Maďarič however pointed out that "the important question is whether President Kiska will be running again for office. It is only when this becomes clear that the discussions will be more interesting. Today, we are only speculating."
At the end of 2017, Andrej Kiska claimed he would announce his decision in September 2018. The latest situation indicates he could change this position. Whether he is running for office or not will be announced before the summer. His step is being highly anticipated not only by the coalition but also by the opposition. If Andrej Kiska withdraws from the political scene, the opposition will have to find a joint candidate who would have only 14 months left for the election campaign. The Opposition Ordinary People party leader Igor Matovič said that they would like to achieve a similar consensus across the democratic opposition as was reached in the latest regional elections. "People appreciated it, so this is our goal," said Matovič.
If Andrej Kiska decides not to run for this post once again, the opposition candidates will not have too much time left their campaign. Ahead of the Presidential election in 2014, Andrej Kiska's campaign ran for more than 2 years as he was a "no name" candidate at the time. Conversely, the campaign by his rival, the then prime minister Robert Fico, who held the top position among the most popular politicians, ran for just a few months.
