Slovaks vote for a new president on Saturday with the odds-on-favourite an outsider whose anti-corruption stance has resonated with voters, still reeling from the fallout from an investigative journalist's murder.
An environmental lawyer with no experience in political office, Zuzana Caputova could become the EU and eurozone member's first female president. Her rival in the run-off election is the ruling party's candidate, EU energy commissioner and career diplomat Maros Sefcovic.
Two recent opinion polls give at least 60 percent of the vote to Caputova, who ran on a slogan of "Stand up to evil", telling AFP that "People are calling for change" in the central European country of 5.4 million.
She was among tens of thousands of anti-government protesters who rallied last year after journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee were gunned down as he was preparing to publish a story on alleged ties between Slovak politicians and the Italian mafia.
Then prime minister Robert Fico was forced to resign but remains the leader of the populist-left Smer-SD party and is a close ally of the current premier.
Five people have been charged in the Kuciak case, including a millionaire businessman with alleged ties to Smer-SD who is suspected of having ordered the murders.
The European Parliament urged Slovakia on Thursday to continue to investigate, "including any possible political links to the crimes."
"I will definitely vote for Ms. Caputova." - Pro-democracy, pro-Europe
But fellow analyst Juraj Marusiak cautioned that the comparison also came with a darker side as "Caputova, like Macron, is a symbol of a very hazily defined hope."
Outgoing President Andrej Kiska said he was pleased that "two democratic and pro-European candidates have advanced to the run-off."