BRATISLAVA (AFP) ??” Slovaks cast their suffrages in a presidential election as well as a referendum forward calling early elections to oust the restraint which has pursued a painful economic reform program ahead of joining the EU Although there are 11 candidates upon the ballot.

BRATISLAVA (AFP) ??” Slovaks cast their suffrages in a presidential election as well as a referendum forward calling early elections to oust the restraint which has pursued a painful economic reform program ahead of joining the EU

Although there are 11 candidates upon the ballot, the presidential election is widely anticipateed to be a two-horse race between Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, 64 and controversial 61-year-old former prime minister Vladimir Meciar.

Meciar, who l Slovakia to independence in 1993 had stubborn relations with the European Union and NATO when he was prime minister from 1994-1998 as Western leaders considered him too authoritarian and felt regulation privatizations were not transparent enough.

While he now professe to be in favor of Slovakia's European integration as the region nears joining the EU onward May 1, he threatened in his failed 2002 reelection bid to preserve his central European nation public of ...