Profile of Presidential Candidate Zuzana Caputova

Profile of Presidential Candidate Zuzana Caputova

Bratislava, March 17 (TASR) – TASR is publishing a profile of Zuzana Caputova, the winner of the first round of 2019 presidential election. She will square off against first-round runner-up Maros Sefcovic in the runoff, scheduled for Saturday, March 30.

Zuzana CAPUTOVA

Lawyer and civic activist Zuzana Caputova is running for the presidency as a candidate of the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia party. Her name is linked to a successful struggle against Pezinok landfill site (Bratislava region), in which she was actively involved for 14 years.

Born in Bratislava on June 21, 1973, Caputova received her law degree from Comenius University’s Faculty of Law in 1996.

After completing her studies, she worked at Pezinok Town Authority, first as a legal department assistant and later as deputy head. Since 1998, she’s been involved in the third sector, and in 2001 she began cooperating with the Via Iuris association, in the capacity of a lawyer as of 2010.

In 2016, Caputova received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in the fight against the Pezinok landfill site. She was also active in collecting signatures for a petition demanding the annulment of Vladimir Meciar’s 1998 amnesties. In September 2017 she announced that she was leaving the Via Iuris team while continuing to practice law, specialising in environmental issues.

Caputova submitted more than 18,400 signatures in January 2019 to launch her presidential bid. She’s currently vice-chair of Progressive Slovakia.