Caputova

Meanwhile, President Caputova, the most trusted Slovak politician, does not often talk about how often she and her daughters receive various threats, including death threats. Yet earlier this week, she posted on social media that she is prepared to take legal action against Smer leader and former PM Robert Fico.

A referendum will take place in Slovakia on Saturday, as citizens vote on a constitutional change that would make it possible to shorten parliament's term through a referendum or by a majority vote in the parliament. The referendum, the first in seven years, was initiated by the opposition Smer party back in 2021.

Pope Francis gets off a plane upon arrival at Bratislava International Aiport. He was welcomed with a traditional tasting of bread and salt on the tarmac of the airport, and received a bouquet of flowers typical for Slovakia. Traffic in the country's capital was paralysed for several hours on the day given extraordinary safety measures.

If presidential and EU elections in 2019 were any indication of what to expect in parliamentary polls on February 29, Slovaks can brace for a robust couple of months of campaigning.

"She brought a spirit of positive energy that has broken the bad mood that Slovaks have had for a long time," Zuborova, an analyst at the Bratislava Policy Institute think tank, told BIRN in an interview.

"She also represented a new hope that Slovakia might take a different direction than the rest of Central Europe."