Outgoing president to create new political party in Slovakia

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Slovakia’s outgoing president, Andrej Kiska, says he’s planning to create a new political party once his term in office expires in June.

Kiska, a successful businessman-turned-philanthropist, did not stand for a second five-year term in the largely ceremonial post. Liberal environment activist Zuzana Caputova was elected Saturday to the post as the country’s first female president.

In Wednesday’s announcement, Kiska didn’t immediately offer details.

His term in office was marked by clashes with populist former prime minister Robert Fico and his leftist party, a dominant political force that was tarnished by corruption scandals.

Kiska supported huge street protests that led to the fall of Fico’s coalition government amid a political crisis triggered by the slaying last year of an investigative reporter who was investigating possible widespread government corruption.