Support same-sex marriage and immigration! Slovakia's first female president: "Fighting an election campaign with hatred and fear is extremely devastating."

Text |

It is a war against evil.

"The only thing that can allow evil to triumph is that good people do nothing." （The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing）[1]

On March 30, Slovakia elected its first female president in history, her name was Zuzana Caputova. (Additional screening: Everyday Matters|Remember her name!) The world's first democratically elected female head of state)

Image |

The 45-year-old politician quickly became a political whirlwind that swept through Slovakia in just one year. Before announcing her candidacy, she was an environmental lawyer working for an NGO and had no political experience. Moreover, Chaputova's party, the Progressive Slovakia, does not even have seats in parliament.

What's more special is that in Slovakia, where more than 60% of Catholics are conservative, she not only supports the legalization of abortion for women, but also supports gay marriage and adoption.

The whole Western world is curious, who exactly is Chaputova? How can an amateur politician point out the direction of reformism for a small conservative Eastern European country?

The story has to start with corruption in Slovakia

As one of the four Central European countries, Slovakia has long faced the disadvantages of slow political reform and rapid economic reform: unresolved government corruption and rapid rightward shift of public opinion. In Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index survey, Slovakia ranks only 57th (Taiwan is 31st).

However, Slovakia's long-standing public grievances collapsed last year.

The incident sparked on February 26 last year, when Jan Kuciak, a journalist investigating government corruption, and his fiancée were broken into their home and shot dead by unknown people. According to the Central News Agency, Cucciac's last article written before his death tried to point out that the top government had close contacts with the Italian mafia "Ndrangheta", and that these transnational criminal organizations were likely to operate in the country under the protection of the government. [2]

Image |

This unfinished report ignited the people's long-accumulated anger. The largest anti-government demonstration since the Velvet Revolution in 1989 was launched, connecting 25 towns and cities across the country and mobilizing tens of thousands of people to take to the streets. The protest was powerful enough to bring the then Prime Minister Robert Fico out of office. In addition, many heads such as the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Culture have been replaced, and Slovakia is facing a major change of the whole country.

Chaputova, who has long been concerned about human rights issues, was walking in the crowd at the time. It was through that campaign that she decided to devote herself to the election campaign.

Image |

How will you fight in the face of a country full of fear and unease?

However, in a country with political turmoil and unrest, Chaputova's campaign method is very different from what we imagined.

In an interview with the New York Times, Chaputova said: "People tend to feel frustration and disappointment in this situation and shout for change. Candidates usually choose to exploit and exploit that fear, but I think using hate and fear to fight an election campaign is very devastating." （People are feeling frustrated and disappointed and are yearning for change. Some candidates have chosen to exploit this fear -- but for me, using the emotions of hatred and fear is destructive.）[3]

At the same time, one of her rivals, the President of the Supreme Court of Slovakia, Stefan Harabin, appealed to precisely to shift people's unrest to hatred of migrants. He accused Muslims of killing women in Europe and pointed out that immigration would destroy Slovakia's traditional culture.

Chaputova's response was more patterned: "It's okay if people don't agree with me, they can still build a bridge of trust with me. If I attack, it must be directed at his actions, not at him personally."

At this point, the New York Times has set the tone of her campaign strategy as "a counterattack to populism"[4]

Faced with a society where conservatism is promoted and has a chance to get high votes, she chose to deviate from this political climate. Chaputova chose not to attack her opponents and not to incite hatred.

She set the tone of the campaign as "fighting evil", which is not about any weak other, but about government corruption and the values of conservative forces opposing human rights. She advocates for the EU, accepting immigrants, fighting corruption, valuing environmental protection, and supporting women's rights, including abortion rights, and, of course, gay marriage.

What about the election results? She wins.

With two candidates withdrawing from the election and expressing their support for Chaputova, she was elected on March 30 with 58% of the vote, defeating her main political opponent at the time, the ruling party candidate Maros Sefcovic.

Her political views: environmental protection X same-sex marriage X anti-corruption X support the EU

After Chaputova was elected, Western society was curious about her. They want to know who this mysterious woman is and why she won the presidency. However, her life is like a mirror, reflecting the opposing dark side of corruption in Slovakia.

Image |

Chaputova was born in the southwestern town of Pezinok and studied law at Comenius University in Bratislava. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer for non-profit organizations and focused on environmental issues. She spent 14 years opposing the construction of a landfill in her hometown, which earned her the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the "Nobel Prize" in environmental protection. CNN also called her Slovakia's "Erin Brockvić"[5]

After her election, Time magazine interviewed Slovak voters about why she was so popular. One citizen said she had exactly what Slovakia needed right now: kindness, honesty, and non-criticism of opponents. [6]

After being elected, she excitedly told Reuters: "I am very happy with the election result, not just because I won, but it means that I can win the election even if I don't give in to populism, I am willing to tell the truth, and I don't rely on extreme language to fight for my interests." （I am happy not just for the result but mainly that it is possible not to succumb to populism, to tell the truth, to raise interest without aggressive vocabulary," she told supporters, Reuters reported.）

Fear of small states and new leadership models: Can we see Taiwan from within?

The New York Times also quoted a comment from a political scientist that makes it inevitable to see the shadow of Taiwan in it. Aneta Vilagi, a political scientist at Comenius University in Slovakia, has analyzed:

After the murder, the Slovak people were actually very anxious about the future of the country. "People are asking everywhere, what's wrong with Hungary now? What's going on in Poland now? But that is anxiety, because these are increasingly clear signs that the same situation (extreme rightization) will soon happen in our country. It's a fast-growing fear: 'Our democracy is in danger.'"

From the Slovak election process, we actually continue to see the shadow of Taiwan.

As a small democracy surrounded by great powers, in times of world turmoil, we are more likely to feel the anxiety that can almost crush people. This kind of social collective urgent desire to vent is particularly easy to reflect in the oppression of minorities.

We see politicians ridiculing immigrants "how Maria became a teacher" (same screening: I am in Sweden, I am also a migrant worker, we are all Maria), and we see politicians saying that they "tolerate gay people on the streets".

When people are unashamed to use discriminatory terms — immigrants, LGBTQIA+ people — to gain support from certain groups, can we expect our favorite politicians to be willing to take these lived experiences not just as countable votes, but to truly stand up for a more equal and free future?

Image |

We know that from political amateurs to politicians, many reforms are still difficult to promote.

As a Central European ruler with a problematic current situation, Chaputova's political views are refreshing enough, and voters are willing to give her a chance to change. However, how she can promote the future that people aspire to in such an environment must still be paid attention to.