In January 2024, Pellegrini announced his candidacy in the2024 Slovak presidential election. He finished in second behindIvan Korčok in the first round of voting. However, he defeated Korčok in the second round held on 6 April with 53% of the vote and was inaugurated as the 6th president of Slovakia on 15 June 2024.[1]
Pellegrini is the first Slovak politician to have held all three highest constitutional posts (President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) in the country.[2]
Pellegrini studied at the Faculty of Economics ofMatej Bel University and theTechnical University of Košice, focusing on banking, investment and finance at the latter.[3] Between 2002 and 2006, he worked as an economist and later as advisor to National Council member for Privatization and EconomyĽubomír Vážny, supported by ĽS-HZDS, SNS and Smer-SD.[3][4]
He started his political career in 2002 at the age of 26 when he ran for the first time in theparliamentary elections for the partyDirection – Social Democracy from 41st place and received 1,223 votes, which was not enough for him to become a deputyNational Council of the SR. In the same year, he started working as an economist.[5]
In the2006 parliamentary election, he ran for the Smer-SD party from the 27th place of the candidate list and was elected as a member of theNational Council of the Slovak Republic with a gain of 2,665 votes. During the 2006–2010 election period, he was a member of the Health Parliamentary Committee, Committee of the National Council for reviewing the decisions of theNational Security Bureau and a member of the Mandate and Immunity Committee of the National Council.
In the2010 Slovak parliamentary election, he again ran for the Smer-SD party from the 34th place in the candidate list and with a gain of 2,745 votes became a member of the National Council.[6] As a member of the National Council, he served as a member of the Committee for Finance and Budget and a member of the Committee for Review of Decisions National Security Bureau. He was again reelected in the2012 elections.[3] He ran from the 35th place and received 5,950 votes. Between 4 April 2012 and 3 July 2014 he was State Secretary for Finance in theFico's Second Cabinet. At the extraordinary assembly of the Smer-SD party on 28 June 2014, he became its new vice-chairman.[5] On 3 July 2014, after the resignation of the Minister of EducationDušan Čaplovič, PresidentAndrej Kiska appointed him as the Minister for Education and Science.[4]
Made Deputy Prime Minister for Investments in 2016, under Prime MinisterRobert Fico,[9] Pellegrini was sworn in as head of government after his predecessor resigned on 15 March 2018 in the wake of themurder of journalist Ján Kuciak.[10] PresidentAndrej Kiska approved ofPellegrini's Cabinet on 21 March 2018;[11] 81 members of the National Council voted in favour of approving the cabinet the next week.[12] After serving as Acting Interior Minister in April 2018, Pellegrini temporarily took on the role of Finance Minister whenPeter Kažimír left to become Governor of theNational Bank of Slovakia in 2019.[13]
After about a year of assuming office, Pellegrini was on 3 May 2019 invited on reception by the president of theUnited States,Donald Trump, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of theVelvet Revolution and the 15th anniversary of Slovakia's entry intoNATO.[14] During the meeting, they discussed issues of energy security, Nordstream 2, illegal migration andUkraine. Trump praised Slovakia's steps to increase the defense budget by two percent within NATO.[15] Later, in December 2019, he assumed the office ofMinister of Health afterAndrea Kalavská resigned.[16]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as medical supplies began to dwindle, nations began competing for supplies outside their jurisdictions, either paying companies to reroute or seizing equipment intended for other countries. Pellegrini said he booked two million masks from Ukraine, the requirement was payment in cash. However, a German agent appeared, paid more for the masks, and bought them. Ukraine Foreign Affairs MinisterDmytro Kuleba responded to the situation by saying there was no country in Europe that would not hunt medical masks and respirators around the world.[22]
Peter Pellegrini as Speaker of the National Council, with thespeaker of the lower house of theOireachtas (parliament) of Ireland,Seán Ó Fearghaíl,Dublin, February 2024
On 25 October 2023, he was re-elected Speaker of the National Council with 131 votes.[23]
On 23 March 2024, he came second in the first round with 37.03% with career diplomatIvan Korčok winning with 42.52% and retired lawyer and judgeŠtefan Harabin claiming third with 11.74%.[26] Soon after being second, he had claimed support from coalition partnersSNS, whose leader Andrej Danko, withdrew from the first round, as well as unsuccessful candidatesKrisztián Forró andJán Kubiš.[27]
On 6 April 2024, in the second round, he won with 53.12% defeatingIvan Korčok with 46.88%.[28] On the day after the election, he confirmed that he will resign as leader ofHLAS-SD and withdraw his membership of the party to honour the unwritten political tradition of the president being a nonpartisan officeholder.[29]
Peter Pellegrini as President at theNATO summit in Washington D.C., July 2024
His presidential inauguration took place on 15 June 2024 during a special session of theNational Council inBratislava.[30]
Peter Pellegrini meets the President of India,Droupadi Murmu at the Grassalkovich Palace in Bratislava, April 2025
On 6 December 2025, in an interview withSTVR, Pellegrini spoke out againstEU-fundedmilitary aid toUkraine claiming it was "prolonging the conflict which has devastating consequences for Ukraine" and that the money would be better spent on rebuilding the country following the end of theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[31] Pellegrini urged his fellow European politicians to "speed up and support" thesecond Donald Trump administration efforts to end the Russo-Ukrainian War.[31] He also claimed that "today it is obvious to everyone that Ukraine, given the huge army and determination of theRussian military, is simply not able to win this war and push it off its territory."[31]
In January 2024, Pellegrini’s party Hlas – sociálna demokracia (Hlas) signed a loan agreement for €300,000 with the company Element Business, whose managing director is Pellegrini’s sister, Eva Pellegrini.[32] Under Slovak law, political parties are required to disclose loan agreements within 30 days of signing. Hlas did not meet this deadline and disclosed the loan only later in 2024, after external scrutiny.
The loan was repaid on 8 October 2024.[32] On 8 September 2025, the State Commission for Elections and Supervision of Political Parties’ Financing imposed a fine of €5,000 on Hlas for late disclosure.[32]
Transparency International Slovakia criticized the party for the delay and described the explanation offered—an “administrative error”—as insufficient to meet statutory transparency obligations.[33]
Further questions were raised when it was reported that Hlas transferred €250,000 to Pellegrini’s campaign account before the loan from Element Business had officially been received, raising concerns over compliance with Slovak campaign finance law.[34]
Pellegrini hasItalian ancestors.[35] His great-grandfather Leopoldo Pellegrini (1856–1942) of Salter (Trentino Region), which at the time was also part of theAustria-Hungarian Empire, came to Slovakia to participate in the construction of the railway betweenLevice andZvolen.[36]
In 2019, he described himself as a non-practisingCatholic.[37]
Pellegrini is abachelor.[38][39] In a 2020 interview withtabloid magazinePlus 7 dní, Pellegrini was asked whether he wasgay, which he denied. The incident led to the resignation of the magazine's editor, who alleged that Pellegrini had intervened to stop the question from being published.[40][41]
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