Slovakia kicks off presidential election

BRATISLAVA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Slovaks started to vote for their next president on Saturday.

More than 4.45 million people with Slovak citizenship are eligible to vote.

A new president will be chosen from more than a dozen candidates and occupy the country's top political post for the next five years, as incumbent president Andrej Kiska has decided not to run for re-election.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the valid votes on Saturday, a run-off featuring the top two candidates will take place on March 30. The next president is scheduled to be inaugurated on June 15.