Tehran, IRNA- In Slovakia, government-backed candidate, Peter Pellegrini has defeated his pro-Western contender, Ivan Korcok in the second round of presidential election held on Saturday.

After almost all the ballots counted, Pellegrini running for the governing nationalist left coalition, won the race with 53% of the votes, according to a tally published by the media.

Korcok, the former foreign minister of Slovakia who garnered 47 percent of the votes in the second round has accepted the defeat and congratulated Pellegrini on his victory.

Korcok won the first round of voting last month after receiving 42.5 percent of the votes, while Pellegrini finished second with 37 percent. The runoff was called as neither won the minimum 50 percent at the ballots.

Korcok is a supporter of greater integration with the European Union, and Pellegrini is an ally of Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico and a supporter of greater cooperation with Russia.

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