Slovak citizens are voting in a presidential election, choosing among 14 candidates to succeed Ivan Gasparovic in a largely ceremonial post, AP reported. Left-leaning Prime Minister Robert Fico is a favorite in Saturday's balloting. The 49-year-old heads Slovakia's dominant SMER-Social Democracy party. He led it to a landslide victory in 2012 that allowed the party to govern alone - a first for Slovakia. Fico's major challenger is Andrej Kiska, the 51-year-old successful businessman-turned philanthropist. Other notable candidates include Milan Knazko, a leading figure of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia and Radoslav Prochazka, an independent conservative lawmaker with a degree from Yale Law School. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent, the top two will advance to a second round on March 29. -- SPA 15:01 LOCAL TIME 12:01 GMT تغريد
