Peter Pellegrini

Peter Pellegrini (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈpeter ˈpeleɡriːni]; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020.

Pellegrini also served as the minister of health from December 2019 to March 2020, deputy prime minister (2016–2018) and minister for Education and Science (2014), as well as spending two non-consecutive stints as speaker of the National Council (2014–2016; 2023–2024). Formerly a member of Direction – Social Democracy, he left the party and co-founded and has led Voice – Social Democracy since June 2020.

In January 2024, Pellegrini announced his candidacy in the 2024 Slovak presidential election. He finished in second behind Ivan Korčok in the first round of voting. However, he defeated Korčok in the second round held on 6 April with 53% of the vote and was inaugurated as the 6th president of Slovakia on 15 June 2024.

Pellegrini is the first Slovak politician to have held all three highest constitutional posts (President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) in the country.

Early life and education

Pellegrini studied at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University and the Technical University of Košice, focusing on banking, investment and finance at the latter. Between 2002 and 2006, he worked as an economist and later as advisor to National Council member for Privatization and Economy Ľubomír Vážny, supported by ĽS-HZDS, SNS and Smer-SD.