Schuster Sworn In as Slovak President

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Rudolf Schuster was sworn in as Slovakia‘s president on Tuesday ending a period of more than a year in which the country has had no head of state. The new president was elected to the largely ceremonial post in a final round run off vote on May 29 against former populist-nationalist Premier Vladimír Mečiar. Schuster ran as the official candidate of the reform-minded coalition government which came to power after parliamentary elections last September. In his acceptance speech, Schuster asked for the support of neighbouring countries, whose presidents were in attendance, in rejoining the first wave of European Union candidate countries. He also pledged to bring unity to his bitterly divided country and look for a common language with the opposition. "I want to be a president for all citizens regardless of their political affiliations…I don‘t just want to be a president for the coalition or the people who gave me their votes," he said. Schuster‘s ancestors are of medieval German immigrant stock and his ethnic German background along with his strong knowledge of Hungarian helped bring him the overwhelming majority of the votes of Slovakia‘s 500,000 ethnic Hungarians. In his campaign, he faced tough questions even from government supporters over his suitability to lead the country in a democratic environment in view of his high ranking communist past. He was a member of the central committee of the Slovak communist party under communism. Slovakia has been through some difficult moments since splitting with the Czechs in 1993. Under Mečiar‘s premiership, Slovakia became increasingly isolated amid fears the country was backsliding on democratic reforms. The EU demoted Slovakia from the first wave of accession hopefuls in 1997, specifically expressing concern at the workings of the political system, abuse of the security services for political purposes and treatment of the ethnic Hungarians. Among the EU‘s most pressing concerns has been Slovakia‘s status as the only country in Europe to be without a president since March 2, last year. Parliament under Mečiar was far too divided to agree on a compromise candidate when the last president, Michal Kováč, stepped down at the end of his five year term. A referendum to circumvent the problem with a direct ballot of the people was scuppered by Mečiar‘s interior minister, Gustáv Krajči, in violation of the constitution. The new government changed the rules to allow for a popular ballot and Schuster was elected in a second round run off vote with Mečiar, taking 57.18 percent to his opponent‘s 42.82 percent. Schuster will serve for a five-year term.