A pro-West diplomat and an ally of populist premier to meet in runoff for Slovakia’s presidency

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A  pro-western career diplomat has defeated a close ally of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico in the first round of the presidential election to set up a runoff vote between the two. The winner will succeed Zuzana Čaputová, the country’s first female president. With nearly all polling stations counted late Sunday, former Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok had 42.13% of the vote. Peter Pellegrini was in second with 37.28%. Because no single candidate won an outright majority, a runoff will be held April 6 in the central European nation of 5.4 million people.