{"id":668335,"date":"2019-09-26T04:21:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T01:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/tr\/content\/?p=668335"},"modified":"2019-09-26T04:21:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T01:21:29","slug":"slovakia-welcomes-its-first-female-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2019\/09\/26\/slovakia-welcomes-its-first-female-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Slovakia Welcomes Its First Female President"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Sushmita<\/p>\n

By Sushmita Roy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Slovakia Welcomes Its First Female President \u2014 And She\u2019s an Environmental Activist<\/h1>\n

Zuzana \u010caputov\u00e1 has been called the “Erin Brockovich of Slovakia.”<\/h2>\n
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Why Global Citizens Should Care<\/strong><\/div>\n
Worldwide, women have been underrepresented in their countries\u2019 governments, but that is now slowly changing. Zuzana Caputova\u2019s win is a win for women everywhere. Join us by taking action here to empower women and girls around the globe.<\/em><\/div>\n
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Slovakia’s first female president, Zuzana \u010caputov\u00e1, a lawyer and environmental activist, was sworn in on Saturday, vowing to fight impunity and restore justice in a country largely affected by large-scale political corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI offer my expertise, emotion and activism. I offer my mind, my heart and my hands,\u201d she said at her swearing-in ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be the voice of those who are not heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u010caputov\u00e1, a lawyer and political newcomer,\u00a0is\u00a0now the youngest person to serve as president of Slovakia.\u00a0She is sometimes called the \u201cErin Brokovich of Slovakia\u201d for her decade-long struggle to close a toxic landfill in her hometown, which she succeeded in doing, earning her the\u00a02016 Goldman Environmental Prize.<\/p>\n

In a conservative Roman Catholic Country, \u010caputov\u00e1, a divorced mother of two, supports both LGBTQ rights and access to reproductive health care.<\/p>\n

\"Slovakia-President-ZuzanaPresidential candidate Zuzana Caputova greets with supporters after acknowledging the first preliminary results of the second round of the presidential election in Bratislava, Slovakia, March 30, 2019.<\/span>
\nImage: Petr David Josek\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Under the constitution, people are free and equal in dignity and in rights, meaning nobody is that irrelevant to have their rights compromised, nor is anyone that powerful to stand above the law,” she said in her inauguration speech.<\/p>\n

Even though the presidential role in Slovakia is mostly ceremonial \u2014 the prime minister oversees most of the country\u2019s affairs\u00a0\u2014 \u010caputov\u00e1\u00a0has blocking powers, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and can appoint top judges.<\/p>\n

Take Action:\u00a0Sign this petition to #LeveltheLaw and empower girls and women around the world!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Take the Pledge:<\/div>\n
Add Your Name to #LeveltheLaw and Empower Girls and Women Around the World!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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33,601 \/ 50,000<\/span> actions taken<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u010caputov\u00e1 assumes the presidency in the wake of the murder of journalist J\u00e1n Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee, Martina Ku\u0161n\u00edrov\u00e1, who were found shot dead at the home they shared last year. Kuciak covered tax evasion stories for the news website Aktuality.sk where his last piece was published on Feb. 9, 2018. He mostly reported on fraud cases involving businessmen with political connections, including governing party leaders at the time.<\/p>\n

The scandal led to the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico last year. And Kuciak\u2019s murder led to a massive outcry in Slovakia where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest government corruption.<\/p>\n

\u010caputov\u00e1 campaigned on an anti-corruption platform and was elected vice chairman of Progressive Slovakia, a liberal party established only two years ago, which then had no seats in the parliament, making her win after a second run-off vote all the more remarkable.<\/p>\n

Her\u00a0election stood in contrast to the European shift towards populist and nationalist parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a strong call for change in this election following the tragic events last spring and a very strong public reaction,\u201d \u010caputov\u00e1 said following her win in the presidential vote in\u00a0March, referring to Kuciak’s murder. \u201cWe stand at a crossroads between the loss and renewal of public trust, also in terms of Slovakia\u2019s foreign policy orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her inauguration speech, \u010caputov\u00e1 suggested that officials who failed to fight corruption should be removed from their posts. She pledged to\u00a0make the justice system more equal for everyone.<\/p>\n

Her presidency\u00a0could represent a turning a point for Slovakia, which was ranked 83 out of 149 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2018, scoring especially poorly for women’s participation in politics.<\/p>\n

Update, June 17, 2019:\u00a0<\/strong>This story was updated to reflect recent developments.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Topics<\/span>EnvironmentGender EqualityWomen’s EmpowermentClimate ChangeWomen in PoliticsActivistAnti-CorruptionSlovakia<\/span><\/div>\n
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Slovakia’s new President Zuzana Caputova reviews the guard <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sushmita Roy Slovakia Welcomes Its First Female President \u2014 And She\u2019s an Environmental Activist Zuzana \u010caputov\u00e1 has been called the “Erin Brockovich of Slovakia.” Why Global Citizens Should Care Worldwide, women have been underrepresented in their countries\u2019 governments, but that is now slowly changing. Zuzana Caputova\u2019s win is a win for women everywhere. Join […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4092,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[10475,10476],"class_list":["post-668335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-turkey","tag-slovakya","tag-zuzana-caputova"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}